Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba urged the West to isolate Russia rather than try to change it. He stated this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
“The main thing for me now is to reaffirm the partners’ understanding that Russia’s essence will not change, regardless of the strength in Russia. Our task is not to turn an orc into an elf, but to extinguish it.” aggression,” he said.
Kuleba believes it is necessary to “push and imprison” the Russians. To do this, the Ukrainian authorities have recently been increasingly calling for Russia’s removal from the UN Security Council. But this is impossible, since the country remains a permanent member of the council – Russia has the right to veto, Moscow reminded earlier.
In the same interview, Kuleba said that the supply of Patriot air defense systems from the USA to Kiev was a “psychological turning point”.
He stressed that Ukrainian officials “fought for the Patriot for more than a year and took it.”
“Giving a Patriot is not just another decision, it’s a psychological turning point. Because from the first days we started talking to the Americans about Patriot, we heard something called ‘no’. And this is another proof that another taboo has been lifted, another wall has been destroyed,” the diplomat said, confidently.
On December 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington, where he met with his American counterpart, Joe Biden. On the backdrop of this meeting, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that a new $1.85 billion military aid package will include the installation of a Patriot system, RIA Novosti reported.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the American side informed Russia through diplomatic channels that it does not plan to send experts to Ukraine to train the military in operating Patriot systems.
“Through the channels our embassy still has, we asked the Americans if the decision to be transferred meant that American specialists would be there, given the difficulty of using the Patriot battery. They explained to us quite extensively that this was not planned, ”said Lavrov in the Big Game program on Channel One.
He stressed that Washington took such a decision “precisely because the Americans do not want and will not engage in direct war against Russia.”
He added that, according to US officials, the Patriot systems will be operational in a few months until the Ukrainian military masters this technology.
The American portal Military Watch believes that the Pentagon’s approach to supply makes this air defense vulnerable and useless for the Ukrainian army.
The limited number of Patriot batteries to be sent to Kiev as Ukraine’s other air defense systems are rapidly depleted means they can be extremely vulnerable, and the absence of US or other NATO forces accompanying the systems leaves them vulnerable.
Patriot is one of the key elements of the US integrated air defense system. Various variants of the complexes differ from 30 to 160 km and by their purpose. There are modifications designed to intercept ballistic missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the supply of Patriot air defense systems is prolonging the conflict in Ukraine.
“Those who oppose us are driven by the fact that this is a so-called defensive weapon. Ok, we’ll keep that in mind. And there is always an antidote. So those who do this are doing it for nothing. It’s just a prolongation of the conflict, that’s all.”
He also noted that Patriot is “a pretty old system”. “It doesn’t work like our S-300,” Putin says. He also believes that the Russian troops are “click and Patriotic”.
New weapons for new levels
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has compared arms procurement from Washington to a computer game, and the next levels are other weapons that the US refuses to procure.
“The Patriot is good of course, but what do we have there with tanks and ATACMS? When we get tanks and ATACMS, I think they’ll say it’s fine of course, but what about aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines when we get them? asked the diplomat during a meeting with RBC-Ukraine.
Asked whether to approve the supply of ATACMS and modern attack aircraft next year, Kuleba replied: “Next year, yes. But it will also depend on the situation on the battlefield.”
On December 21, Zelensky asked Biden during negotiations to hand over the ATACMS long-range missiles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but received only one refusal, Politico wrote, citing a source.
At the same time, ATACMS is not the only weapon requested by Ukrainian representatives. On December 30, Kuleba stated that the Ukrainian army also lacked Western missiles for the IRIS-T air defense provided by Germany. According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, RIA Novosti writes that the stocks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are depleted “due to the fact that this is a completely new system.”
Kuleba’s statement was made despite the fact that on December 15, the German government reported that additional missiles for the IRIS-T (the numbers were not specified) and 30,000 40 mm caliber shells were transferred to Kiev.