Ukrainian Foreign Minister’s agenda at NATO meeting is “weapons, weapons and weapons”

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, left, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speak to the media as they arrive for a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 7. — Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, left, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speak to the media as they arrive for a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 7. (François Walschaerts/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, where NATO and G7 foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss sanctions against Russia and ways to support Ukraine.

“My agenda is very simple. It has only three items on it. It’s weapons, weapons and weapons,” Kuleba told reporters.

Providing Ukraine with weapons was the best way to “contain Putin and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine so that the war does not spill over further,” Kuleba said.

“The Ukrainian army and the entire Ukrainian nation has demonstrated that we know how to fight. We know how to win.
“The more weapons we get, and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved, the more cities and villages will not be destructed, and there will be no more Buchas.”

He called on NATO and G7 Foreign Ministers to “put aside their hesitations, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” concluding that “as weird as it may sound, today weapons serve the purpose of peace.”

Speaking beside Kuleba, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO countries “are providing equipment support to you to uphold your right for self defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter and it is an urgent need to further support Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg said he was certain that NATO will “address the need for more air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, lighter but also heavier weapons, and many different types of support to Ukraine.”

Ukraine-US meeting: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to the US State Department’s public schedule.

The two last met in Warsaw in late March.

Blinken on Wednesday met with his NATO counterparts, plus foreign ministers from countries including Australia and Japan.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this post.

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