Ukraine’s foreign minister blames battlefield setbacks on ‘everyone who is not doing enough’
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Saturday he blames “everyone who is not doing enough” for Ukraine’s recent setbacks on the battlefield as he admitted the current situation on the frontline was “tough.”
“I’m grateful to everyone, but I blame everyone who is not doing enough,” Kuleba said speaking via videoconference at the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn, Estonia. He was responding to a question from CNN’s Jim Sciutto about whether he holds the US responsible for the delay in aid which Russian forces have been able to take advantage of and advance further into Ukraine.
Kuleba’s comments come after Moscow has ramped up its offensive in northern Ukraine. Last week it launched its most surprising operation in two years of war, crossing the northern border in renewed attempts to take Kharkiv, the country’s second most populous city.
Vovchansk, in the northern Kharkiv region, has faced an onslaught, with Russian forces claiming to control surrounding villages, forcing civilians to flee.
Analysts say Russia was prepared for the hiatus in Western military aid to Ukraine and has exploited it for its own gain. “Ukraine may need to make difficult decisions due to slowness of US action and the dilemma that is now causing,” George Barros at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington previously told CNN.
It comes as Kyiv’s forces are thinly stretched, with much less artillery than the Russians, inadequate air defenses and a lack of soldiers.
Kuleba described Ukraine’s current position on the frontline as “tough.”
“Russia is strong, we are suffering from… insufficient supplies of military assistance which we are forced to compensate with heroism and sacrifice of our soldiers,” he said.
“So the main message remains the same: send us everything. Because we have proven over these two years that when our soldiers have everything they need, we succeed, and when we don’t have everything that we need, we don’t,” he added.
The foreign minister went on to say the situation on the battlefield would be different if countries did more to assist Ukraine, claiming that if every country were to follow Estonia’s footsteps in allocating 1% of GDP to military aid for Ukraine they would be able to perform better on the battlefield.
“Estonia is a country that proves to the whole world that a small country with a big heart can make a big difference and it’s a paradigm for everyone to follow,” he said.
Kuleba said Ukraine will “work hard on plan A which is the continuation of support and ramping up support to make Ukraine win.”
CNN’s Tim Lister contributed to this report.
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