Kuleba - to EU ministers: Now every shell produced in Europe should go to needs of Ukrainian soldiers and European defence
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on EU ministers to make every effort to immediately increase the supply of artillery shells to Ukraine, including cancelling export contracts and directing all available European production to the needs of the Ukrainian frontline and European defence.
According to Censor.NET, citing the Foreign Ministry's press centre, Kuleba said this at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 19 February.
"Every artillery shell that is currently produced in Europe must serve the defence of Europe. We must make this a rule," the minister said.
He told the heads of European diplomats about Russia's barbaric tactics of "meat assaults" and called on his European colleagues to take immediate decisions to provide Ukrainian soldiers with the necessary number of artillery shells as soon as possible. He stressed that a sufficient amount of artillery saves the lives of infantrymen.
In particular, Kuleba called on European governments to sign more long-term contracts to establish new production lines, to jointly search outside Europe for shells that can be purchased and shipped to Ukraine, and to cancel contracts for the supply of European shells to third countries and redirect them to the needs of Ukrainian soldiers and European defence.
The minister stressed that everyone is now focused on stopping Russia and preventing a larger war in Europe. But the only way to prevent this catastrophe is to give the Ukrainian army the opportunity to defeat the Russian invaders on their own soil.
