Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in his office in central Kyiv, north-central Ukraine, on Thursday. Credit … Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
Kyiv, Ukraine – When the European Union summit began on Thursday evening in Brussels, an aide to Ukraine’s foreign minister tuned the paperwork from a laptop.
Minister Dmytro Kuleba, whose left leg was in red form after a basketball injury, was optimistic as he watched as the European Council awarded his war-torn country something he had been looking for for years without success. : the coveted status as a candidate. to join the blog.
It was one of the best news for Ukraine, which is in its fourth month of war, since a successful counteroffensive drove Russian soldiers away from the capital. Mr. Kuleba said the council’s move was “the most important step in overcoming the last psychological barrier in relations between Ukraine and the European Union.”
Still, he acknowledged that his country would have to wait a long time before he could join the 27-member bloc. The action of the European Council, formed by the leaders of the member states, was only the first step in a process of a few years, and Ukraine should make progress in the fight against corruption and the implementation of the state of right to finally be approved.
“Sure, there will be talks, reforms here and in the European Union,” he said. “I do not care. As long as the decision is made that Ukraine is Europe, I’m fine. The story is made. “
Mr. Kuleba said that for decades, as Ukrainians fought for democracy in protest movements in 2004 and 2014, Brussels and other European capitals were still “entertaining this idea of a buffer zone for something in the half, a bridge between Russia and the EU “.
In the last phase, he said, European leaders were “winking” unofficially at Ukrainian officials. “Like,‘ Guys, everything will be fine, it will take years, but in the end you will be with us, ’” he said. “But they were still afraid to say it out loud.”
While Mr. Kuleba spoke at the interview, the sirens of the airstrikes cried in Kyiv. An aide rushed to the office to say there were 10 Russian missiles flying over Ukrainian airspace.
“I’m not surprised that today the Russians shot something in Kyiv,” Kuleba said, adding that the symbolism of the day would not be lost in the Kremlin.
Kuleba, a 41-year-old career diplomat, said he saw the European Union as “the first attempt to build a liberal empire” on democratic principles, contrasting it with Russia’s aggression on former Soviet states under President Vladimir V. Putin.
“I understand that people don’t like the word empire, but that’s how history is written,” Mr. Kuleba. “You have to show that different things on a similar scale can be built on different principles: those of liberalism, democracy, respect for human rights, and not the principle of imposing one’s will on others.”
Mr. Kuleba said he was grateful to other Western allies, especially the United States, for military and political support. However, he said he expected a more explicit articulation of Washington’s war goals.
“We are still waiting for the moment when we hear a clear message from Washington that for Washington, the goal of this war is for Ukraine to win and for international law to be restored,” he said. “And Ukraine’s victory for Washington means restoring Ukraine’s integrity and territorial sovereignty.”