On Monday, July 22, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba participated online in the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
The Minister expressed his gratitude to European partners for their support for Ukraine, in particular in restoring the energy system damaged by Russian strikes.
He urged partners to step up their efforts to protect and restore Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
“Russian missile and drone strikes have destroyed or damaged a significant part of generating capacities, thermal generation, hydroelectric power plants, and electricity transmission system facilities,” the Minister said.
Kuleba emphasized that Ukraine is actively taking a number of steps to improve the situation in the energy system. He named five priority steps to urgently help achieve this task.
“Our efforts are focused on five areas. The first is to strengthen air defense. The second is the rapid repair and restoration of generation and distribution facilities. The third is the decentralization of the power system, including the installation of cogeneration units. The fourth is to increase import capacity from the EU from the current 1.7 to 2.2 gigawatts. The fifth is to attract funds and equipment from partners,” the Minister said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on European partners to intensify efforts in these five areas.
Dmytro Kuleba also reminded that Russia's greatest strategic advantage is still its air terror. He emphasized that Russia drops between 3,200 and 3,500 guided bombs on civilians, the military, and critical infrastructure in Ukraine every month.
“Ukraine needs the capability to destroy the carriers of guided bombs, including Russian warplanes at airfields and in the sky. Long-range air strikes and modern air defense are the basis for ending the daily Russian terror,” the Minister emphasized.
In this context, the Foreign Minister emphasized the need for partners to let go of irrational fears about Ukrainian strikes on legitimate military targets on Russian territory, including places of concentration of Russian troops and equipment, military airfields, weapons depots and logistics centers.
“These strikes are completely legitimate from the point of view of international law and can really speed up the end of the war. Some decisions in this regard have already been made. They helped us thwart Russia’s offensive on Kharkiv. We need to take further steps and expand the area of application,” the Minister said.
The Foreign Minister welcomed EU decisions enabling the use of profits from Russian assets for Ukraine’s benefit, including the purchase of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers, and thanked the EU for the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The Minister emphasized that EU partners should pay special attention to monitoring the implementation of the sanctions regime and export control of components used by Russia in the production of weapons.
Dmytro Kuleba also recalled the successful holding of the First Peace Summit and informed that Ukraine is launching a series of further relevant meetings at the level of ministers and national security advisors before the Second Peace Summit. He emphasized that it is the collective strength, unity and determination of the world that will influence Russia and ensure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.