Ukraine sees no fall in Western war support, says foreign minister

Ukraine does not fear any fall in Western war assistance, its foreign minister said Tuesday, dismissing a US poll showing declining public support and critical comments from some American conservatives.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive to win back occupied territory makes only slow progress, a poll conducted for CNN and released in early August showed that more than half of Americans were against additional US support for the country, representing a fall.

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“We are not feeling any fall in support from the (US) Congress, in the European parliament,” Dmytro Kuleba told reporters in Paris during a press conference with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna.

“We see some people making statements in America and in Europe too that we should support Ukraine less. In the United States it’s linked to the start of the electoral cycle,” he said, adding that Ukraine would “overcome it. We will find a way through.”

During a first debate last week among contenders to be the Republican nominee for the 2024 US presidential elections, several candidates criticized President Joe Biden’s policy of backing Ukraine and suggested they would reverse it.

The views of ex-president Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, remain unclear but he has claimed he could end Europe’s most intense conflict since World War II in a day.

To counter the uncertainty, which could encourage Russia to play for time and continue the war, Ukraine’s Western allies are seeking to lay out long-term plans for weapons supplies and funding for Ukraine.

French Foreign Minister Colonna stressed that it was important to tell Russia that “time is not on your side.”

“France will offer and will continue to offer all of its support to Ukraine, in every domain, to help the country to exercise its legitimate right to self-defense,” Colonna said.

“It will carry on and intensify for as long as it takes in order to ensure the Russian aggression is a failure.”

Kuleba dismissed the idea of peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to freeze the conflict, saying Putin was not to be trusted.

He pointed to at the example of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally, who died in a plane crash last week, two months after he launched an aborted rebellion against the Russian state.

“Mr Prigozhin was in conflict with Mr Putin. He had talks and agreed security guarantees. And then Putin killed him. There’s no reason to think that Putin would behave differently in any other negotiations,” he added.

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