At the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Dmytro Kuleba showed a photo of an 8-year-old boy from Kharkiv and called for additional air defence equipment for Ukraine as soon as possible

On Monday (27 May), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took part in a meeting of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council, where he called for increased and accelerated military assistance to Ukraine, including additional air defence systems, and support for Ukraine’s strikes against military targets in russia.

At the beginning of his online speech, Dmytro Kuleba showed the ministers a photo of an 8-year-old boy, Mykhailo, from Kharkiv, whose father could have been among those killed in the construction hypermarket that was destroyed by russians on Saturday, 25 May.

“In the photo, you can see a police officer taking a DNA swab from the boy, which is needed to identify his father among the victims of this strike,” the Minister told his European colleagues.

The Minister stressed that this barbaric war crime is a part of russia’s systematic strategy to destroy the lives of Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities and communities.

“There is no time for reflection, we need action. It is quite clear what needs to be done. We need to provide Ukraine with additional Patriots and other modern air defence systems, as well as support Ukrainian strikes on military targets in russia,” he said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister stressed that while there are still those in the West who fear escalation, the enemies of the free world, russia, Iran and North Korea, are increasing their cooperation and mutual support. They are gaining in boldness, which threatens to destabilise not only Europe but also other regions of the world. Providing Ukraine with the support it needs for its partisanship and battlefield advantage will change this situation and force them to change their plans.

“The free world has much more economic and military potential than its enemies. However the latter have more determination. While there are still those in the West who wonder how moscow will react to Ukrainian strikes on russian military targets, putin is simply hitting where he wants and how he wants. At the end, the boy I has shown you, has to take a DNA test since there is a possibility that his father will be found among the ashes of the hypermarket destroyed by a russian strike. This is the price of hesitation. This boy’s fate is the result of every delayed decision,” the Minister said.

The Minister also called on European countries to invest in the Ukrainian defence industry and purchase weapons for Ukraine directly from Ukrainian manufacturers. Their production capacity this year already far exceeds the amount of available financial resources, so such contracts will help to quickly increase the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army. The Minister also called for support for using part of the profits from frozen russian assets for such purchases.

Dmytro Kuleba stressed the need to increase sanctions pressure on russia, particularly in the energy, finance, metallurgy and other sectors. He called for blocking all schemes to circumvent sanctions, supplying critical components and giving russia access to any modern technologies, and imposing additional sanctions on russian propagandists.

The Minister called as well on European partners to show political will to approve the negotiation framework in a timely manner and to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU in June.

Finally, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister expressed his gratitude to the European leaders for the readiness to participate in the Peace Summit on 15-16 June in Switzerland. He underlined the critical importance of attracting the widest possible range of participants from outside Europe and pledged to make every effort to encourage their participation.