Ukraine today urged the EU to call out Russian war crimes and accelerate arms supplies and sanctions to fight the invasion, as Kyiv draws up a draft peace treaty conditional on a ceasefire.
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told MEPs via video link that his country was fighting for its survival in the face of Russian “state terror” such as attacks on Kyiv and the port city of Mariupol.https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-dead-of-mariupol-highlight-the-cost-of-relentless-russian-shelling-mjmpgqpr6
“I am responsibly telling you that the Kremlin is the present Hitler of the day, and it is not exaggeration. I cannot without emotions talk about those inhuman methods with which they wage a war.
“It’s not simply a war. It’s state terror,” he told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, urging MEPs “to recognise that Putin is a war criminal”, adding: “The regular army of the aggressor is conscientiously annihilating the civil population.”
Reznikov, 55, said that 400 schools, 110 hospitals and 1,000 residential apartment blocks had been destroyed across Ukraine in the three weeks since Putin launched the invasion.
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He claimed that more than 14,000 Russian soldiers had been killed but asked European governments to “very quickly” step up supplies of anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems.
‘We will win. It’s a question only of the price which Ukraine’s people will pay,” he said, criticising Nato for refusing to impose a no-fly zone. “The Russians can be stopped, victory can be gained, but we need assistance. The longer you hesitate, the more it will be perceived by our children and grandchildren as a crime against Ukraine.”
As Ukraine fought for its existence, he complained, the “bureaucratic systems” in many European countries were delaying arms supplies. “We need a decision from the governments of your countries to supply lethal weapons to us without red tape, without fear, without bureaucracy. This could be a donation, it could be a sale, it can be a transfer of any kind. We’ll be very happy,” he said. “It takes weeks and people are dying.”
Thanking the EU for €500 million in financial assistance, Reznikov said: “We still need more lethal weapons and all other means to fight the aggressor. We will lose more and more lives and it will be more money European countries will pay later to help Ukraine rebuild.”
Research has showed that while some EU countries hesitated to send arms to Ukraine, they continued to supply Russia with €346 million worth of military equipment, including missiles, aircraft, rockets, torpedoes and bombs, despite an arms embargo that came into effect in 2014.
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Despite the ban on sales of munitions after Russia annexation of Crimea, ten EU member states used legal loopholes to supply arms to Russia. Data analysed by Investigate Europe, a pan-European investigative journalism project, showed that France was the top exporter of arms to Russia with sales worth €152 million between 2015 and 2020.
Exports include thermal imaging cameras for more than 1,000 Russian tanks, as well as navigation systems and infrared detectors for fighter jets and combat helicopters. In the same period Germany exported €121.8 million worth of military equipment to Russia under “dual use” loopholes, representing 35 per cent of all EU arms exports to Russia.
Reznikov said the main thing the “European community can do for us” was to hit Russia with tougher sanctions, cutting off energy imports that are worth up to €800 million a day to Moscow.
“These sanctions have to be destructive, completely paralysing for the Russian economy. They have to be real, please, we’ve heard enough of your concerns. We’ve heard enough, what we need is real action.”
On peace negotiations, he said that the deal hinged on Russian agreement to “a ceasefire, humanitarian corridors, the provision of the civilian population with evacuation, with water, with food.
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“We would never accept any capitulation and our armed forces are ready to resist. Lawyers are involved, politicians are involved but I’m not going to go into more details.”
