‘Cards stacked in our favor,’ says UK foreign secretary at Ukraine conference

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) - Kyiv is fighting a war on many fronts and the future is looking brighter for Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on Tuesday.

“Ukraine is fighting a war on the land, a war on the Black Sea, and here a war for the future, and we want to help Ukraine win all of those wars. And I think we can, when I look at the picture, I mean, the cards are very much stacked in our favour when it comes to this war for the future.”

Cameron emphasized that the Western alliance has deeper capital markets, stronger economies, and “better alliances.”

“I mean, look at the array of businesses in this room. The question for us is, are we going to have the courage to play all these cards? And are we going to have the patience to make sure that Ukraine wins in the long run?”

The conference includes the launch of 95 investment projects and a range of reform targets. The country’s future accession to the EU was also included in the conference agenda.

Hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, attendees included a range of senior international diplomats and foreign ministers, from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to the UK’s David Cameron.

In his speech, Cameron accused Russia of attempting to destroy the energy system in Ukraine.

“They're trying to take the coking coal that is crucial for Ukraine's iron and steel industry, and they're trying to destroy the gas storage in Ukraine as well. They're going after, with toughness and precision, Ukraine's key assets, and we have to ask ourselves, are we being equally tough and precise in return?”

Cameron then said the West has rightly switched off “a lot of Russian oil” but that it is time to make sure the Russian gas is also completely cut off from being imported into Europe.