2024-04-12 16:05:57
Ukraine has started producing air defense systems, but it needs the American Patriot systems because the production process takes time, during which people die. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated this at the closing press conference of the ninth summit of the Three Seas Initiative held today in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Zelensky appeared before the media at the Palace of the Grand Dukes, which houses the National Gallery of Lithuania, together with the host of the forum – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish Head of State Andrzej Duda.
“We have started to produce air defense systems, but it takes time, during which we lose people. That is why we need the Patriot systems. And we have no secrets from our partners. We acquire technological experience in the course of production, which we can share . Polish President Duda proposed that the countries allocate not two, but three percent of their gross domestic product to defense. One hundred percent of Ukraine’s national budget goes to military spending. Meanwhile, Russia is getting Shahed drones and ammunition from North Korea,” Zelensky said.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to destroy Ukraine. “His goal is to destroy our energy infrastructure, to ruin the lives of Ukrainians. He is shelling everything, including civilian objects. Therefore, there is no alternative but for Ukraine to be accepted into NATO. I already have nine security agreements, but we need more, so that our partners can guarantee that we should enter NATO,” the Ukrainian president also said, quoted by BTA.
The “Three Seas” initiative is a political project of 13 EU countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas, among which is Bulgaria. Also participating are Lithuania, whose president Gitanas Nauseda is hosting the forum today, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and Greece. Associate members are Ukraine and Moldova, strategic partners – the USA and the EU, and from today – also Japan.
The objective of the Three Seas Initiative is to promote faster development and convergence of the region by increasing the interconnection of Member States in the fields of transport, energy and digitalisation, in particular along the North-South axis, with the aim of improving the convergence of The EU and consolidation of the transatlantic partnership between the EU and the US.