Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defended this Monday before European foreign ministers meeting in Kiev that Ukraine’s victory over Russia “directly depends” on cooperation with the European Union (EU).
“I am sure that Ukraine and the entire free world are capable of winning this conflict, but our victory directly depends on our cooperation,” he said, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidency.
Zelensky proposed a series of measures that would help end the war, including increasing sanctions on Iran, supplier of explosive ‘drones’ (unmanned aircraft) used en masse by Moscow to bomb Ukraine.
Russia deployed more than 500 Iranian Shahed-136 drones against Ukraine in September – a record according to Ukrainian consultancy group Defense Express, which predicts Moscow will make even more use of these cheap but exhausting devices.
The Ukrainian head of state also called for an “acceleration of work in the EU” aimed at using frozen Russian assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, which has been devastated by war for more than a year and a half and whose recovery is estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, complained in September about the “lack of political will” in the West on the issue.
Western allies froze more than 300 billion euros in assets of the Russian Central Bank and several tens of billions in various assets belonging to sanctioned individuals or entities.
Ukraine, which relies heavily on Western aid (military and financial) to confront Moscow, is asking for these resources to be made available, but the Westerners claim there are legal obstacles.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine that, according to UN data, caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945) and caused a large number of casualties in the past 19 months, not only military but also civilian , impossible to count as long as the conflict continues.
The invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia impose political and economic sanctions.
Source: DN
