Petro Poroshenko meets with German lawmakers, calls for bigger military aid

Wide support from German public and politicians offers Ukraine a ‘window of opportunity’, said former Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko,  after a meeting with a group of German lawmakers led by Anton Hofreiter in Bundestag on Tuesday.

What Kyiv needs now in the first place is ‘weapons, weapons, and weapons’, added  Poroshenko, calling on Berlin  to ramp up  military supplies for Ukraine, and, more importantly, bring in new sanctions for Russia that will help Ukrainians hold it accountable for the crimes committed in its aggression.

‘The first weapon is German artillery, one of the best self-propelled  howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000. Now the first dozen of those is to be delivered’.

Poroshenko revealed that the supplies will be covered by Germany that is also poised to ‘address the issue of tanks’,

On the diplomatic front, Berlin will need to pile pain on Moscow by new sanctions and ‘actively respond’ to Russia’s war crimes.

The Ukrainian president assumed that Berlin could send its investigators to Ukraine to trace down such crimes – it will see ‘Russian scumbags ending up behind the bars as soon as possible’.

Poroshenko also stressed the importance of German leadership in the EU that plays a critical role in unanimous European support for Ukraine.

Among other things, the sides touched on the issue of ‘deeper reforms’ Ukraine needs to better align with the EU as the granted candidacy status calls for concrete and swift actions from Ukraine’s government.