It's 'intellectually impossible' for some allies to imagine Russia losing the war: Ukrainian foreign minister

Ukraine's foreign affairs minister says some of his country's allies still fear Russia — but he does not count Canada or the United States among those afraid to imagine a world in which Russia is defeated on the battleground.

"If we have no fear, why should you have it?" Dmytro Kuleba asked host Vassy Kapelos in an exclusive Canadian interview with CBC News Network's Power & Politics. He added he doesn't think Canada and the U.S. are afraid of Russia.

"You are good guys. At least, this is what I want to believe."

While he didn't name any specific allies, Kuleba said some capitals have had to work to overcome an ingrained fear of Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"They cannot imagine, in their boldest dreams and reflections, the defeat of Russia. It's intellectually impossible for them," said Kuleba. "Sometimes politicians lack this vision and this boldness in thinking and in imagining a new reality."

Over the course of the war, Ukraine has been critical of two major NATO allies: Germany and France.

Germany failed to follow through on a promise made in April to facilitate the delivery of heavy weaponry to Ukraine, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

"Not a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses," Kuleba tweeted last month.

NATO ally Poland was also angered by Germany's failure to follow through on the promise of heavy weapons.

"Berlin's hesitation, its inaction, seriously calls into question the value and the alliance with Germany," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told German news outlet Der Spiegel last month.

A longstanding German policy has left Europe's largest economy reliant on Russian energy and Moscow is now squeezing that supply, raising genuine fears of energy shortages this winter.

While Germany has failed to deliver on the promised tanks, Berlin did send four air defence systems to Ukraine this week, following a renewed plea from Kyiv.

France says it also will provide Ukraine with radar and air defence systems, but this followed harsh criticism levelled at French President Emmanuel Macron.

Former top NATO diplomat Anders Fogh Rasmussen slammed Macron last month over his "disastrous" diplomatic efforts.

"Macron astonished us at the beginning of the crisis with his, to say the least, unique and critical statement that Putin should not be humiliated and offered an exit ramp. Such statements were disastrous and deeply harmful," Rasmussen told the French magazine Le Point.

Despite criticism from some NATO allies, Macron pledged Thursday that he will continue to talk directly with Putin and he called on the Russian president to come back to the negotiating table.

Retired Canadian lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie said the delivery of air defence systems to Ukraine shows that France and Germany are not afraid of Russia.

"It shows that they're willing to reduce their own defence capabilities to beef up that of Ukraine," Leslie told CBC News. "Could they have done more? Absolutely. We all could have, frankly."

On the prospect of peace talks, Kuleba said there is no country in the world that wants peace more than Ukraine.

"We tried everything to negotiate with them," he said. "Everything we received in return were more attacks, more atrocities and more missiles.

"The question that we all have to focus on is how to bring Russia to the table in a position where it will be ready to negotiate in good faith. We believe that the best way to reach that point is to defeat Russia on the battleground because everything that has happened so far proves that Russia has to lose in order to behave in good faith."

Leslie said Ukraine knows Russia far better than most countries.

"If Russia wants the war to stop, get out of Ukraine. Stop smashing their cities and killing their civilians," said Leslie.

"If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine dies."

Watch: Complete Power & Politics Interview with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba

Ukraine's foreign minister says some allies still fear Russia

2 years ago

Duration 12:25

"They cannot imagine, in their boldest dreams and reflections, the defeat of Russia. It's intellectually impossible for them," said Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba. "Sometimes politicians lack this vision and this boldness in thinking and in imagining a new reality."