Ukraine wants to receive not only defensive, but also offensive weapons from Western partners. This was announced by Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov on Saturday, December 18.
"If the Government of Denmark.. If he takes a tough position and contacts partners, including from the countries of the alliance and the EU, and there will be real help with weapons and technologies for Ukraine, then this will stop the aggressor and he will not go on the offensive. With weapons, I mean, not only of a defensive nature, but also offensive," Reznikov said at a briefing following talks with his Danish counterpart Trine Bramsen.
He also said that economic and political sanctions should be imposed against Russia.
"We will defend ourselves, but help us. We need electronic warfare, electronic intelligence, anti-missile systems, cyber defense, we need to strengthen our fleet," the Defense Minister asked.
On December 17, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Ukrainian authorities were fooling their citizens, setting them up against Russia. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities broadcast hostility towards the Russian Federation, as a result of which the relations of the states are "cut off at the root."
On the same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the draft agreement of Russia with the United States and NATO on security guarantees. The documents have already been handed over to Washington and its allies. As follows from the documents, in particular, the alliance should refuse to conduct any military activity on the territory of Ukraine and other states of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
In addition, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Ukraine's involvement in NATO and the prospect of deploying alliance strike missile systems near the borders of the Russian Federation are an unacceptable threat to security. Moscow demands the withdrawal of the decision of the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest that Ukraine and Georgia will become members of the alliance. However, there is no readiness on the part of the West for this, Ryabkov added.
