“Let me again express the solidarity of my country to the Ukrainian peoplewho these days suffer from large -scale attacks with Russian rockets and drones against civilians. These attacks, and I believe that we must repeat it at every opportunity, are grossly violating international humanitarian law. From the beginning we have made it clear that you have the inherent right to defend against Russian aggression“. This is what the Prime Minister emphasized in his speech Kyriakos Mitsotakis who today participated in the 4th Ukraine-Eastern Europe Summit, which took place at Odessa.
Mr. Mitsotakis expressed the support of our country in Ukraine by saying that Greece will continue to support Ukraine, as it has done from the beginning, diplomatic, political, economic, military, humanitarian.
“We will do anything we can do to work in the direction of ending this disaster and misery of your country,” Mr Mr. Mitsotakis And he added that it was up to the Ukrainians to decide to accept or reject any peace formula.
“And I believe that you have proven very clearly that your intentions are truly honest, as opposed to those of the other side“He said.
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He characterized the Odessa City-symbol of the resistance of the Ukrainian people who are struggling for his freedom and noted that at the moment everyone should work for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as a first step towards a fair and sustainable peace.
“We will continue to put more pressure on Russia, to support packages of additional sanctions, and of course to point out, as was done by my colleagues, that this war is not just Russia and Ukraine.. It is about the international order based on rules, not to be rewarded by the attacker with the acceptance of an arrangement that essentially justifies these aggressive behaviors, ”he said.
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He made a brief reference to the future and the importance of Odessa as a city that highlights future reconstruction and connectivity projects, and said that he envisioned the city at the end of an ambitious overall connectivity project that would start from the port of Alexandroupolis and would pass through Alexandroupolis.
“This is a project that could be proposed for funding by the EU. It would include transport, rail, electricity, gas, pipelines and would be a project that would provide an additional connectivity corridor for Ukraine, much faster than your maritime transportation. The people of Ukraine ”said Mr Mitsotakis.
Finally, addressing the leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans in Odessa, that Greece will continue to be one of the most ardent and stable supporters of the expansion process and European integration.
Press conference
Then, the leaders of the countries attending the meeting gave a joint press conference. Answering a question about European defense cooperation, EU funding programs for defense and participation of Ukraine and other third countries, the Prime Minister noted:
“I believe that there is a broad understanding in Europe and certainly in the European Council that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a violent geopolitical awakening, a need to take control of our security and an urgent need to spend more on European defense collectively. I do not think I will exaggerate if I say that before the war in Ukraine we were almost sleeping towards military insignificance, if you look at how much we were spending collectively on defense.
Now we have a new initiative on the part of the European Union, the Rearm Initiative, which essentially has two components. It enables us to spend more at national level by activating the national escape clause, without affecting the limits of increasing our expenditure. And of course, there is also the SAFE mechanism, which provides loans for investment in European defense, but also promotes cooperation and partnership with other countries, in particular with countries that are candidates for accession to the European Union. “
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Mr. Mitsotakis also said that bUkraine as a powerful partner in building our future European security infrastructure And he added that it is no secret that Ukraine has developed enormous potential through this very cruel and bloody war.
Concerning Safe and other candidate countries or other countries that could participate in it, the prime minister sent a message to Turkey saying that anyone who would like to access European funding would at least need to be in some alignment with the Common Foreign and Policy of EU.
“Because, at the end of the day, it is a tool designed to protect Europe as a whole and creating a new European architectural security,” he concluded.
At the meeting, the prime minister had a private meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while earlier visited Shevchenko Park with other leaders and laid a wreath on the hero’s alley.