DAVOS: Ukraine will work with whoever wins the US presidential election later this year, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
With former US President Donald Trump, the frontrunner to win the Republican nomination, there are fears that Washington’s policy on Ukraine would change if he wins.
With Congress already divided on giving more arms to Ukraine, some worry Donald Trump will have even less appetite to support Ukraine.
But Kuleba appeared sanguine about any Trump victory, AFP reported.
Kuleba said that he will accept the opinion of the US people, and his country will work with any reality that will follow the elections.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump know and “respect each other”, Kuleba said, after the annual “Davos Ukrainian Breakfast” event in the Alpine resort, Switzerland.
Trump may not be physically at Davos but his potential victory has come up during many public and private discussions at the forum.
Kuleba also urged the West to ramp up its support to Ukraine. The problem is to scale up and ensure sustainability, he said.
Ukraine’s priority for 2024
Ukraine has said the priority for 2024 is to gain control over its skies in its fight against Russian troops, and Kuleba said Ukraine needed more air defense systems.
He added that there was also a need for electronic warfare to suppress Russian missiles and planes, F-16s and other Western jets with a sufficient number of rockets they can fire.
