The Ukrainian counteroffensive that has been going on since June aims to liberate all of Ukraine“however much time is needed for this”, says the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in an interview with the French News Agency (AFP).

“Our goal is victory, victory in its form liberation of our territories within the 1991 borders and it matters little how long that will take,” he says.

Ukraine will need more weapons from Western allies until victory against Russian forces comes, warns Dmytro Kuleba.

“Until we win, we will need more weapons. We must move forward because war is a reality and in this reality we must win. There is no other solution”.

Ukraine has given “guarantees” that it will not use Western-supplied weapons on Russian soilsays Dmytro Kuleba.

“If our partners ask us to give guarantees that this or that weapon will not be used except on the territory of Ukraine, we will give this guarantee and respect it. There have been (and before) cases where we made such promises and kept them.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister says that Kiev feels no pressure from Ukraine’s Western allies to speed up counteroffensive against Russian forces.

“We don’t feel like that. There is an increase in the voices of commentators and experts in the public sphere. This exists, but they will all disappear (…) after Ukraine’s first major victory in the southern or eastern part” of the country, assures Dmytro Kuleba.

Kiev has launched a systematic effort to revive Ukraine’s relations with Africasays the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, accusing Moscow of using coercion, corruption and fear to maintain its influence on the African continent.

“Many years have been lost, but we will promote the Ukrainian-African renaissance, the renaissance of our relations (…) this continent needs systematic and long-term work.”

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Dmytro Kuleba has made three tours of Africa in an attempt to drum up support for Moscow.

A delegation of African leaders led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Kiev in June offering mediation – which was rejected by Ukraine – before visiting Moscow.

If most African countries appear neutral towards the conflict, “a slow erosion of Russian positions in Africa is underway,” the Ukrainian minister assures, citing Liberia, Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea among the new African partners of Kyiv.

“I am not claiming that we have driven the Russians out of everywhere. But, if Russia previously had the strategic initiative, now we have imposed our agenda, our momentum. Our strategy is not to replace Russia, but to liberate Africa from Russian imposition.”

Ukrainian minister accuses Kremlin of using ‘coercion, corruption and fear’ to keep African countries under its control adding that Moscow has only two tools in Africa: propaganda and Wagner.

Russia has for many years started the campaign of rapprochement with Africa and through the services of the mercenary company Wagner, appearing as a refuge against the “imperialism” and “neo-colonialism” of the West.

Wagner works with regimes in African countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic, where she has committed numerous atrocitiesaccording to Western governments and organizations.

Ukraine’s foreign minister calls Moscow’s concerns about Africa’s food security “lies” after it pulled out of a grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea.

“Africans have seen that all these stories of Putin about how worried he is about African countries are lies. Those who pay the most for Moscow’s decision are the Ukrainian farmer and the African consumer of bread,” says Dmytro Kuleba.