Ukraine belongs in the European Union, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday during her visit to Kyiv. But she added that the country needed to do more to fight graft.
“Reform results in the areas of judicial reform, and media legislation are already impressive. But there is still a long way to go in the implementation of the anti-oligarch law and the fight against corruption,” Baerbock said.
Baerbock also said that Germany will provide an additional $21.44 million in humanitarian aid, bringing Berlin’s additional aid to a total of $408 million this year.
The German foreign minister warned that Russia would again target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this autumn and winter.
“Russia’s perfidious goal is to starve the people again this winter and to let them freeze to death,” she said.
Ukrainian officials have also warned that Russia will likely wage new airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities and have called for long-range missiles from Western allies.
After his meeting with Baerbock, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he requested Taurus cruise missiles from Germany as soon as possible.
“You will do it anyway — it’s just a matter of time — and I don’t understand why we are wasting time,” Kuleba said in response to a question at a press conference.
Kuleba noted that Ukraine, a major grain producer and exporter, needed more protection for its ports after Russia stepped up airstrikes on grain export infrastructure.
He has recently requested ATACMS long-range missiles from Kyiv’s allies.
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said on the Telegram messaging app that discussions on long-range missiles had been “good,” and the question of ATACMS was moving forward. But he gave no details.
Zelenskyy thanked Baerbock for Germany’s support. In an interview with CNN, he said he planned to speak again to U.S. President Joe Biden about providing ATACMS to Ukraine, and that he hoped to receive them in the fall.
G20 reaction
Oleksandr Polishchuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to India, expressed skepticism during the G20 summit in New Delhi over the weekend about the tenor of the declaration reached by the group of the 20 richest countries over the war in Ukraine.
The G20 declaration highlighted the human suffering the war has caused and called on all states to respect nations’ sovereignty. It condemned the use of force to grab territory but stopped short of condemning Russia for the war.
Source : VOA News
