Ukraine's foreign minister says he believes US aid will come

By Gokhan Celiker and Busranur Koca

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday that he believes the US will provide aid to Kyiv, as the American Congress is yet to decide on a $60 billion aid package to the war-torn country.

"First, I think American aid will come. Second, we see our European partners significantly increasing their military production and purchases in third countries to help Ukraine," Kuleba told journalists in an online news conference.

Expressing that efforts by Kyiv's European partners are helping the country fill the gap created by the delay in the US Congress decision, Kuleba said it does not completely solve the problem, but "helps maintain pressure."

Kuleba said the "clever use of available weapons and heroism of soldiers" is the solution to the lack of weaponry, and Ukraine is in a constant and permanent effort to find new sources of weapons and ammunition for its army in the background.

"We have solved many problems. For example, this year Ukraine will produce more than a million unmanned aerial vehicles for the front line alone, and this is a very significant figure," he said.

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, Kuleba said Moscow wants to "destroy the country" and Kyiv has "no doubt" that Russia will continue to attack "other countries in Europe or Central Asia" if they are successful, because "expansionist logic and ambition guide them."

"Our country and our people never wanted this war. We have never attacked anyone and we have not given anyone a reason to attack us," he said.

He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 10-step peace formula is the "only realistic" plan for the 25-month conflict.

"China has absolutely huge potential in putting an end to this Russian aggression against Ukraine because of the special relationship that China has with Russia," he added.

Kuleba also described the recent Russian presidential election as "beyond reality," and said recent attacks on oil refineries in Russia must be explained by Moscow.

"There is a direct consequence of Russia's illegal and unprovoked attack on Ukraine. If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin had not launched this attack, thousands of Russians would not have been killed in Ukraine and nothing would have happened in Russia," he said.

*Writing by Burc Eruygur in Istanbul