Without Ukraine in NATO, there won’t be stable security in Europe - Poroshenko
Leader of the European Solidarity party, member of parliament of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, spoke at the Political Assembly of the European People's Party (EPP), which is taking place in Vilnius.
The politician called on European partners to accelerate the transfer of the economy to military rails and use Ukraine's experience in repelling Russian aggression, the political force's website says.
"For three and a half years we have been learning to live in conditions of Russian ballistic missiles. And this surprised Putin, because he thought it would break us. Russian troops, Russian missiles - no, it did not break us. It terms of mathematics, we had no chance of surviving. But war is not about mathematics. War is about fighting spirit," Poroshenko said.
"We should never give Putin the right of veto. The European Union must be sovereign, responsible, in particular, be responsible for its own security. And we, Ukrainians, are ready to actively participate in this process. We are ready to send military advisors, combat generals who have unique experience in how to fight Russia now, what weapons, what strategy, what technologies to use, and how to most effectively use funds for the defense industry. We, Ukrainians, want to help you switch the economy and military rails," Poroshenko noted.
"Russia spends more than 40% of its large budget on war. Our request to the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, and Germany is to add 0.5% to the Ukrainian military industry. This would be responsible behavior, including the use of money from Russian frozen assets. We must also be more decisive in this area, because the war is already here," Poroshenko emphasized.
"We need weapons and ammunition, and we are launching joint production. We need drones, missiles, and anti-drone systems. We know how to produce them, and we have unique and positive experience. We need defense - not outdated, but modern and effective. We need protection of energy networks, diversification and decentralization of our energy system. We know how to do it. And we need sanctions against Russia. Strong sanctions," the party leader emphasized.
"We have already learned to live without Russian gas. And we are about to learn to live without Russian oil and Russian nuclear energy. Including the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Europe, to Hungary and Slovakia through the territory of Ukraine. We must learn to live without this. And we must learn to live without Russia," Poroshenko urged.
"We will never return to Russian influence. And we need to become a NATO member state, regardless of who is in Washington, or in Paris, or in some other country, we need it. Because without Ukraine's membership in NATO, there can be no stable security situation on the continent. Believe me, there simply is no other form of security guarantee except NATO. No bilateral security guarantees work, because bilateral security guarantees concern weapons, money, the defense industry, but not security. Because security is ‘boots on the ground.’ This means that in the event of aggression, soldiers from all over NATO must be shoulder to shoulder to defend themselves from the aggressor. But this is not in bilateral security guarantees. And that is why we need to be adults, we need to be responsible. That is why we need to be anti-populist winners. And that is why we need to win this war against Putin together," Poroshenko summed up.
