This has been a huge week, obviously, for Ukraine, a European tour.
You've been a part of. You've accompanied the president of
Ukraine. He's been in London, Paris and Brussels.
And today he said something that really caught my eye.
He said, I can't go back home empty handed.
We have to survive. And that means weapons and a lot more
when you go back home now. What do you take with you?
What are the specifics when this meeting that you say mission accomplished?
Well, first of all, let's let's let's remember that this week started actually
in Kiev a week ago when two days we had a European days in Kiev, President
Wonderland coming in with a college president, Michelle.
And then it prolonged this week with several capitals, including yesterday in
Brussels for the European Council. And yes, my president was always there.
And I have to come with the results of the first result being the weapons.
Now we need the weapons badly need ammunition.
We need long range until we won in battle tanks.
We need armored vehicles when fighter jets.
Everything was discussed today. Suddenly the European Council itself,
the institution, not the institution which gives the weaponry.
But my president had a chance to raise it at the general debate and then to
have a bilateral meetings with each and every leader of the member state to
discuss particularly the things we need from each and every country, some as
someone gives us to ask what if someone is still thinking?
But the dynamic should be more and more quicker and quicker because we badly
need the weaponry now. So this is it is our number one.
And just so our audience understands, because they hear the fighter jets and
they mean what what are the fighter jets?
Is it the training? Is it the actual jabs?
They hear the long range missiles? What does it mean in terms of
kilometers? What are you trying to do this?
There has been concerns that perhaps we're trying to do is to hit Russia and
that concerns people. So this missiles as long range, what
type of actual weapons are used to be do need.
No, no, no. We never we never even were thinking or
minute to hit Russia. You never have to strike Russia.
each of Russian territory. But long range missiles were needed in
order to deal occupy Ukrainian territory.
So in your territory, I would unsolicited all along.
Ukraine is huge, you know, so very needed here.
We need a long range missiles to start the counter-offensive, because when you
start counter-offensive, usually starting with the artillery fire and the
counter fire, you have the artillery, you have plenty of ammunition, because
now where we haven't, we're having like almost zero ammunition.
And that's why the Shery Ahn from Russia come in the more intense and more
dangerous. So that's why we need artillery and
ammunition to eat. We need battle tanks and armored
vehicles in order to start after the artillery fire, to stop the
counteroffensive by manpower. And yes, we need the fighter jets on
several reasons. First of all, their fighter jets to
fight. And secondly, the fighter jets are also
very good in intercepting the ballistic missiles, which are coming in more and
more intense quantity over the head or with the sky over Ukraine.
We do. Yes, we need air defense system, medium
range in order to intercept this ballistic missile.
But they also need the fighter jets for several purposes.
And yes, we need to start from training because obviously the pilots would need
to be trained. But our pilots are quite, quite wise and
quite experienced. They will not need several years or even
even even even the one year. They will do it much quicker because
they already have gained quite the good experience at the battlefield and they
will do it quicker. So if you say let's say let's get
trained in two weeks, they'll be ready to fly these planes.
When? In the spring, possibly.
Yes. I'm not an expert in this, you know,
exact things, but yes, as quick as possible.
And there's one thing that you said that's very important with this long
range missiles, which is worth 300 kilometers.
Is that essentially something I guess what you say is the concern is that
Ukraine is going to attack Russia. That's not what's going to happen.
What we want is to liberate what is Ukrainian territory obsolete.
I think it's very important to stress, because some fear the issue with the
long range missiles is that this could turn into a much bigger war if Russia
perceives this as a threat. So when you say that's not where you're
trying to do it. Absolutely not.
But second, I would like to tell you, it's high time to forget about fear or
over Russia would react to how Russia would be provoked.
It's a bad idea. Well, you know, many thought not to
provoke Russia long before the in 2014 when they started aggression against
Ukraine. What happened?
The aggression started. Then many thought of provoking Russia
before 2022. The open aggression started.
We asked for preventive sanctions and for defensive weapon was not given to
Ukraine. Now it has given the Ukraine, but it's
too late, too little and too slow. And the ammunition.
You also mentioned that. And of course, just one audience
understands in a war you burn through ammunition pretty much every day.
What is the situation that you really encounter these days?
Is it something that you see? It is reaching to a point where we may
have soldiers, but they don't have what they need to keep fighting.
That's going to be a problem. It's not that critical, as you describe.
But yes, we have enough manpower, trained, experienced, brave and
courageous and motivated. Because Russian soldiers are not
motivated. Most of them do not understand what
they're fighting for. Our soldiers clearly understand that we
want to liberate Ukrainian territory. But yes, in order to liberate the
liberty while effective on the battlefield, you need it.
What you need? Military equipment.
And we are very good at mastering these high level, sophisticated Western
equipment. So, yes, we are running all the
ammunition very quickly because the fights are intensive.
And the Russians are bigger in size. They're bigger in quantity of equipment,
but they're not that good in quality or fighting.
So so to Greenspan and the fighting and I would ask a question, if you put all
of this week together combined in the presence, Alaska is still doing meters.
You are still doing meetings. Just how much closer do you think you
are on maybe not the fighter jets? Yes.
To the long range missiles and the ammunition has breached perhaps a
difference. It's very it's very important that those
meetings today in Brussels or in Paris and in London were just ahead of another
Ramstein meeting at the Ramstein forum. It is the meeting format where these
decisions are taken. So we're counting on the next week, the
14th of February for the Ramstein medium.
I will stop on this. But very important, the police gets not
only weaponry. Another topic for discussion of the
peace formula, prisons announced we discussed in terms of Russia says that
that plan, with all due respect, is a joke that they can't
respond to, that Russia won't just be, but just peace for Russia is immediate
cease fire and the freezing of the conflict.
Control over the captured Ukrainian territories and immediate cease fire.
This is not the case with Ukraine and with the civilized world.
For us, peace means certainly liberating our territory.
But was this worse? What is also important to deprive Russia
of aggressive instruments in other areas, rather, on the battlefield, for
instance, the food security and the blocking Ukrainian ports.
It's also aggressive instrument because they are depriving know the food, the
poorest countries in Africa and in Asia when the endangered the biggest nuclear
power plant in Europe is operation of their power plant just controlling that
could by and by armed forces. This is the this is the danger for the
whole Europe when they fire at a critical energy infrastructure.
It's also danger for you all because where one and the same system of
electricity. So that's why we need to deprive Russia
for all possible aggressive instruments. And then think about these.