Europe’s strategic security is not possible without Ukraine. This was stated by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday 29 August at a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in Paris.
Dmytro Kuleba said that he began his visit to France with a meeting with representatives of French defence companies and invited them to participate in the first Defence Industries Forum to be held in Ukraine this autumn. The Minister stressed that the aim was to create an integrated system of arms and ammunition production involving Ukraine and European countries.
“Until recently, strategic concepts were developed in which European security was impossible without russia’s participation. But russian aggression has put an end to that. I hope it has now become clear to everyone that Europe’s strategically autonomous security is impossible without Ukraine. And this is a tectonic shift in the way we think about Europe and its future,” the Minister stressed.
Dmytro Kuleba thanked President Emmanuel Macron, the government and people of France for the military, energy and political support Ukraine has received since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion.
The Minister underlined France’s support for Ukraine’s path to the EU and NATO, as well as the steps to be taken to open negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the EU by the end of the year.
The heads of diplomacy discussed the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Dmytro Kuleba stressed that Ukraine was interested in resuming its work, but was also working to develop alternative ways of exporting grain to foreign markets.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also stressed that the way to a sustainable and just peace in Ukraine was through the implementation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula.
“Restoring peace in Ukraine means restoring its territorial integrity within the 1991 borders. Ukraine has all the legal, political, moral and historical grounds for this,” the Minister concluded
