Latvia's Foreign Ministry on “closing the sky” over Ukraine, permission to hit Russia and a million drones for Ukraine

Baiba Braze, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and former NATO Assistant Secretary General, has chosen Ukraine for her first bilateral visit, breaking the tradition to visit the neighbouring countries first. European Pravda posted an interview with her when she was NATO Assistant Secretary General.  Editor Sergiy Sydorenko had a chance to speak with her in Kyiv.

She is the first official to have publicly acknowledged, in this interview, that Ukraine has received Western weapons with permission to hit Russia. She insists that strikes on Russia are legitimate. And that ultimately, the Russian army "must stop in Russia".

Advertisement: You can watch the interview or read it in the article - Ukraine has received Western weapons with permission to hit Russia. I don't think that the US decision to provide security assistance to Ukraine (£61 bln) is "enough" for Ukraine.

We don't expect that this part of weapon provision is sufficient. Other countries in Europe and around the world also need to provide weapons, money, implement sanctions. So the move to the long war means entirely different tactics, strategies.

Attrition, resilience, the ability to continue and to believe in victory and to have inner and outer strength for that play a role. And that's why I'm also here: to show Latvian support for Ukraine. Ukraine is not alone.

And it's not just about the military fight itself. I don't think time plays for Russia. Ukraine needs long-range weapons.

Ukraine needs integrated air missile defence that involves air-to-air capabilities. Also on the Russian territory from where Russia is attacking Ukraine. Because that's covered by international law: you can strike not only Ukraine's sovereign territory, but also those places from where Russia is attacking.

That is what is being provided not only by the US package, but also by other partners, like F-16s, pilots' training, long-range drones, ATACMS, and so on and so forth. That sort of capability is coming to Ukraine. Some of it has arrived already.

And there are already countries that have provided those weapons without conditions to Ukraine. Not everything is said aloud, and better that it's not said aloud in certain times, but that there is effect on the battlefield. There is also now the drone coalition fund, where countries have pledged money to enable those drones to be provided. The initial commitment was for one million drones by mid-2025.

But if it's just a cheap type of drone, that is one thing, while actually it's about more advanced things. So we'll see whether it's one million or a different number, but it will depend on what Ukraine needs, and then together we'll adjust to those needs and provide it. Discussions take place all the time, but again, we only can talk when the decisions are made.

And a big change is also taking place in NATO as we speak. Currently, there is no direct military threat by Russia to any NATO countries. So NATO changed its military strategy from out-of-area operations back to the collective defence of territories and people.

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