Ukraine PM Requests More Weapons From EU In Exchange for Gas Supplies

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, has urged the EU to supply Kyiv with more weapons and military equipment in exchange for supplies of gas from Ukraine’s reserves.

Addressing the EU- Ukraine Association Council in Brussels on Monday, Shmyhal told the council that Ukraine needs “more modern weapons, such as air defence, missile defence and ship defence”.

In exchange, he suggested that Ukraine could deliver gas to ease the surges in energy prices caused by scarcity due to bloc wide sanctions on Russia, noting that Ukraine “can replace to a large extent the Russian imports”.

“30 billion cubic meters is what we have in our gas stores, and we can offer some of it to our European partners in order to replace the Russian Federation in the unstable market”, he added.

Given the West’s energy war with Russia energy shifted gear this week, after the G7 announced a price cap on Russian oil, and Russia announced the closure of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, there will undoubtedly be those that look on Shmyhal as a saviour in his offering.

While the closure of Nord Stream 1 will inevitably intensify the Kremlin’s limelight as villain, the EU’s sabotaging of its own societies under the guise of a ‘tough but ethical stance’ and ‘economic deterrence’, will likely fail to register within the western legacy press.

The EU’s insistence on a bloc wide boycott of Russian gas, has attempted to force less economically developed nations on the EU’s periphery that are wholly dependent on such a supply for their energy needs, to halt imports in the name of ethics.

These however seem to matter less when the EU and West formulate their foreign policy aims in line with the Gulf’s Petrostates, who in addition to having atrocious human rights records, are the largest sponsors of jihadist terrorism in Syria and across the Middle East.

However, given the large protests witnessed across several European capitals over the weekend, it seems many are now joining the energy crisis in Europe with Shmyhal’s cap in hand requests to Brussels, and the Commission’s subsequent capitulation.

While EU president Ursula von-der-Leyen has said Ukrainians are “willing to die for the European perspective” it’s still not clear whether Europeans themselves will be willing to.