Kuleba Tells European Parliament: If Russia Is Not Punished, the World Will Face a Series of Simultaneous Wars

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on the European Parliament not to let Russia go unpunished for its aggression against Ukraine, as this could result in several new wars. 

Dmytro Kuleba called in his speech to the European Parliament at the opening of a conference on accountability for Russian crimes for a fully-fledged special tribunal to be established to punish Russia for the crime of aggression as the root cause of all other war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

"If we allow Putin and his henchmen to escape punishment for their crimes, we will condemn our children to live in a world full of wars and injustice," he stressed.

Kuleba noted that the world is already in a reality in which wars are simultaneously going on in Ukraine and Israel. 

"If Russia is allowed to escape responsibility for its aggression against Ukraine, the world will have to deal with three, four, five wars at the same time. Simply because there are too many players in the world who believe that brute military force is the best way to achieve their goals.

If they see that Moscow's aggression has resulted in some trouble, sanctions and isolation, but in general it has ‘paid off’, nothing will stop them from repeating Russia's actions in other parts of the world. This is the first reason why punishing Putin and his accomplices in the crime of aggression against Ukraine is so important," he said.

Dmytro Kuleba will boycott the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting due to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Meanwhile, Lithuania’s foreign minister has expressed concern that if the West does not have the political will to help Ukraine win, Russia will perceive this as its victory and start preparing for a new war, and any of its neighbours could become victims of its aggression.