Kuleba: “Hallelujah” for US Aid, but Ukraine Needs More to Defeat Russia

Euheniia Martyniuk / Euromaidan Press

Ukrainian FM stressed that although the renewed US military aid is vital, only a united front of Ukraine and its allies can stop Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the approval of a US military aid package for his country, amounting to over $60 billion, but noted that it is not enough to win the war against Russia.

“Hallelujah,” Kuleba told The Guardian, reacting to the US Senate’s final vote on Tuesday. The bill had been blocked for months by right-wing Republican congressmen in the House of Representatives.

Kuleba emphasized that while the restoration of US military aid is crucial, it will take a united front of Ukraine and all its partners to stop Russia.

“No single package can stop the Russians. What will stop the Russians is a united front of all of Ukraine and all of its partners,” he said.

He urged the West to increase arms production, as Ukraine has done, to keep pace with Russia’s defense industrial base.

“When I see what Russia achieved in building up its defence industrial base in two years of the war and what the west has achieved, I think something is wrong on the part of the west,” Kuleba remarked.

The Foreign Minister noted that peak military industrial production from Ukraine’s allies is not expected until late 2024, while Russia currently out-shells Ukraine by a ratio of 10 to one, and Ukraine faces air defense shortages. Kuleba believes the West must recognize that the era of peace in Europe has ended.