Dmitry Kuleba has accused demonstrators of effectively calling for Ukraine’s downfall
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. © Georg Wendt – Pool/Getty Images
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has claimed that German protesters who oppose weapons deliveries to Kiev are essentially calling for the destruction of his country. The diplomat also argued that Ukrainian servicemen are more peace-loving than pacifist demonstrators in Berlin.
In an interview with Bild published on Sunday, Kuleba suggested that German protesters “must be honest and rewrite their slogans.” Instead of placards reading “Stop the war! No weapons deliveries,” the diplomat stated that demonstrators should “write what they really mean: Let the Russians kill, torture and rape Ukrainians.” Kuleba insisted that this is “precisely what will happen if we don’t have weapons to defend ourselves.”
“Every single Ukrainian, even the soldier in the trench… wants peace more than the most pacifist demonstrator at the Brandenburg Gate [in Berlin],” the minister added.
When asked if he thought Germany was doing enough in terms of military support for Kiev, Kuleba replied that Berlin “could really help more with artillery ammunition.” He also accused the German government of dragging its feet on signing contracts when arms manufacturers are supposedly ready to meet Kiev’s needs.
In late February, tens of thousands of Germans gathered in central Berlin to demand peace talks in Ukraine and an end to further weapons shipments for Kiev, at an event organized by prominent Die Linke (Left Party) politician Sahra Wagenknecht and author Alice Schwarzer.
Wagenknecht urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to make Russia “an offer” so that Moscow and Kiev could sit down at the negotiating table.
A similar protest was held around the same time outside the Ramstein US Airbase in southwest Germany, where Western officials have regularly convened over the past year to coordinate aid to Ukraine.
A petition launched by Wagenknecht and Schwarzer last month, titled ‘Manifest for Peace’, has to date been signed by nearly 750,000 people.
Scholz, in turn, has repeatedly argued that peace talks are unlikely at this point as Moscow is supposedly unwilling to negotiate in good faith.
However, Russia has made it clear on multiple occasions that in principle it is open to talks with Ukraine, on condition that the authorities in Kiev recognize the “reality on the ground.”
