Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba has asked his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, to speed up the delivery of tanks and artillery ammunition to kyiv.
“I will not hide that the main topic of our negotiations today is the increase and acceleration of arms supplies to Ukraine,” Kuleba said at a joint press conference, according to the Ukrainian portal Unian.
“This autumn, we are expecting the first ultra-modern German Iris air defense system. I also couldn’t help but mention the latest initiative: the so-called Leopard plan (…). I really emphasized the importance of supplying tanks of this type from Germany,” he said. Foreign Minister before adding that they see “no obstacle to this”.
In addition, he has ordered artillery systems. “This decision is technically not as difficult as supplying tanks. Ammunition now can significantly strengthen our offensive capabilities and this will help us liberate new territories and save people’s lives,” she said.
Thus, Baerbock has assured that from Berlin they will support Ukraine as much as necessary. In this sense, the German minister has confirmed that the Iris air defense systems will be delivered in the coming weeks.
Kuleba has expressed satisfaction that his German counterpart has shown his willingness to support Ukraine’s candidacy for the European Union, with efforts to meet the necessary conditions to assess its membership and make it effective.
“Today it was extremely important for me to hear from my German colleague who supports Ukraine’s rapid progress on its path to EU membership,” he said.
“In this sense, I accepted Annalena’s proposal and we agreed to launch a project between the German and Ukrainian foreign ministries,” he assured. This project would consist of Berlin providing resources to strengthen Ukrainian institutions with respect to European integration, the Ukrinform agency has collected.
Baerbock has called on Russia to allow the IAEA mission to stay at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant for as long as necessary and has urged Russian forces to return control to Ukraine.
“We call on Moscow to allow the IAEA mission to stay at the plant for a long time and withdraw the weapons completely. Russia should leave the territory of the Zaporizhia NPP and return control of the nuclear plant to its sole legal owner, Ukraine,” he declared, according to Ukrinform.
In Baerbock’s words, the situation at the nuclear power plant is “the fault” of the Russian war, so Europe should not make any concessions.
The German Foreign Minister arrived in kyiv this Saturday, in what has been her second official visit since the outbreak of the war, triggered on February 24 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Baerbock has stressed from kyiv that his presence in the country seeks to demonstrate that Berlin “will continue to be on the side of Ukraine as long as necessary with the delivery of weapons and with humanitarian and financial support,” according to the German news agency DPA.
The politician has traveled to kyiv from Poland in a special train and with a small delegation, since the airspace over Ukraine has been closed since the beginning of hostilities.
The German minister made her first visit to Ukraine on May 10, a trip that was the first by a high-ranking German government official since the start of the Russian military offensive. For his part, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, visited kyiv in mid-June with the presidents of France and Romania, Emmanuel Macron and Klaus Iohannis, respectively, and the then prime minister of Italy, Mario Draghi.
Source: Europa Press
