If Russia has no restrictions in the war, neither should Ukraine - Kuleba

  • 2024-10-31
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - Russia and its allies do not respect any restrictions in their hostilities against Ukraine, so there should be no restrictions on the volume of military supplies and the use of arms against Ukraine, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told LETA in an interview.

He stressed in particular that Ukraine is very grateful for the support it has received from all its partners in Europe, across the Atlantic and other countries around the world, because without this support Ukraine would be in a much more difficult situation.

"But let's look at Russia - do you see even the slightest restraint that Russia would observe in waging war against Ukraine? Hardly. Do you see any limits in the support that other countries give to Russia? North Korea is even sending troops. What should be the response? Any restrictions on Ukraine must be removed!" stressed the former Ukrainian Foreign Minister, referring to restrictions on the volume of military supplies and not allowing certain weapons to be used against all legitimate targets in the occupied territories and in Russia.

The involvement of North Korean soldiers shows that Russia has serious problems and that the resources at its disposal are far from infinite if such a step has to be taken.

"The other thing we see is that Russia's allies are prepared to do much more Russia than our partners are for us," he said.

"On the one hand, our partners are putting weapons in our hands, but on the other hand, our hands are tied when it comes to the quantity of these weapons and the ability to use them. This is the reality," Kuleba said in an interview on the sidelines of the Riga Conference security and foreign policy forum.

The politician pointed out that the logic of "red lines" and non-escalation stretches back to the Cold War era - it is outdated and not applicable to today's reality. As all the political and military doctrines and strategies currently in use were born during the Cold War, they continue to influence the decisions taken today.

"If Russia demonstrates with all its might that it has no red lines and continues to escalate, then it is perfectly legitimate to respond with the same. It should be stressed that this is not to expand the war, but to make Ukraine more capable of stopping Russia. The aim is not to add fuel to the fire, but to put out the fire of this Russian war," Kuleba stressed.

The former Ukrainian Foreign Minister is convinced that the content of the concept of victory should be defined by the Ukrainian people, and that there is no discussion about it in Ukrainian society either - everyone wants a total victory and there is no discussion about any other type of victory. Kuleba pointed out that Ukrainians would not accept an externally imposed meaning of victory.

"Ukraine has already won one victory - that is the survival of Ukrainian statehood. This is the first time in our history of war against Russia that Ukrainian statehood has survived an attack. This generation of Ukrainians has proved that we are strong enough to defend our statehood. We should be proud of that," said Kuleba.

The "victory plan" proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was described by the former politician as a detailed concept of the President's victory - how he sees Ukraine winning.

"'The ''victory plan'' is a tool for implementing his [October 2022] 'peace formula'. He is not asking for anything unthinkable," Kuleba said. "As Zelensky himself has said, the victory plans and peace plans are interlinked. The most important outcome of the presentation of this plan is that it started the conversation itself."

The nervous reaction from some capitals, he said, is probably due to frustration with Ukraine telling its partners what it wants, rather than listening to what its partners have to offer.

Asked about speculation about Ukraine's alleged stated desire to acquire nuclear weapons, Kuleba said that in fact Zelensky had made himself very clear.

"But of course Ukrainians are outraged that the promise to protect Ukraine was not kept when it agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal. To some extent, Zelensky reflects this Ukrainian indignation. Everything else is quoting him out of context," Kuleba said.