On Friday, March 8, 2024 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba visited the Republic of Lithuania, where he held negotiations in a five-party format with the Foreign Ministers of Estonia Margus Tsahkna, Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš, Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and France Stéphane Séjourné.

The key topic of the negotiations, following the recent summit in Paris chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, was practical steps to increase and accelerate military support for Ukraine and joint production of weapons and ammunition.

Dmytro Kuleba called on Ukraine’s partners to understand the urgency of increasing support for Ukrainian soldiers in order to restore peace in Ukraine and throughout Europe.

“It’s time to admit openly that the strategy of dripping aid to Ukraine drop-by-drop doesn’t work anymore. What is required is unrestricted and timely supply of all types of weapons and ammunition to ensure that Ukraine beats Russia and the war in Europe does not spill over. We have to accept as a new reality that the era of peace in Europe is over,” stated Dmytro Kuleba at the joint press conference following the negotiations.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted the need to localize in Ukraine the training of Ukrainian soldiers, the production of weapons and the repair of military equipment.

Dmytro Kuleba emphasized that Europe has no right to allow the mistakes of its tragic past to be repeated.

“Those who do not believe that the war may take place beyond Ukraine crossing into what is currently NATO territory, please wake up. Read history books, listen to what Putin is saying now and find ten differences with what happened in the past. Could the occupation of Baltic countries have been avoided? It could, if strong decisions were made. Why or for how long will we continue to stumble over weak solutions in 2024? Weak decisions – more war. Strong decisions –  end of war. It’s very simple,” he said.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to France, personally to President Emmanuel Macron, his French counterpart, colleagues from the Baltic states and other allies of Ukraine for their invaluable help and support.

He called on allies to make the daily decisions necessary for a joint victory.

“When Ukraine has everything it needs, we shoot down Russian planes, we liberate our territories, we sink Russian ships, we prevail. It is not a matter of “invincible Russia”. It is only a matter of availability of everything that Ukraine needs to Ukrainian soldiers. I urge all countries, all friends, all partners, on behalf of every Ukrainian soldier who is fighting today, to finally resolve your differences and come to a decisions which will allow you to help us to stop the war in Ukraine and avoid a situation where you will have to make a decision of a completely different scale and tragedy, to defend our own villages, towns and territories,” summed up Dmytro Kuleba.