(OTTAWA) The international community must not give an inch to Russia, which is trying to wrest concessions after it backed down on the Black Sea grain deal, Ukraine’s ambassador to Ottawa, Yulia Kovaliv, warned during an interview covering a variety of topics.
Vladimir Putin’s decision to withdraw from the agreement which had allowed 1,002 ships with holds stuffed with 33 tonnes of grain to leave Ukraine for Asia, Africa and the Middle East did not surprise the envoy from Kyiv to Ottawa.
She sees it as a “new demonstration of the brutality of the strategy” of the Kremlin, while food inflation is strangling households almost everywhere, while in several countries people are dying of hunger and while in Ukraine, farmers are preparing for the harvest season.
In Moscow, it is claimed that Western sanctions are hampering deliveries of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. And on Friday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayiip Erdoğan called on Western countries to “live up to Mr. Putin’s expectations.”
From her office at the embassy in Ottawa, Yulia Kovaliv waves a red flag.
We will never win by making concessions to Russia. We saw it when they used energy as a weapon against Europe.
Yulia Kovaliv, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ottawa
“We are in the same situation. It’s difficult, but you have to hold on, because unfortunately Russia only understands power and force,” the diplomat added.
Canada and several other countries have condemned Russia’s withdrawal. “This is a serious escalation of the militarization of hunger by the Russian Federation,” Ministers Mélanie Joly (Foreign Affairs) and Harjit Sajjan (International Development) declared last Tuesday in a press release.
Laborious counter-offensive
In addition to reneging on the pact signed in Istanbul in July 2022 under the aegis of Turkey and the United Nations, the Russian regime is increasing the bombardments: strikes have hit the Odessa region, a strategic port in the Black Sea, and grain silos in recent days.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive has run out of steam, even its main architect, General Oleksandr Syrsky, admits. “We would like to see quick results, but in reality it is virtually impossible,” he told the BBC earlier this week.
People must understand that the Russians took advantage of the months when they occupied certain territories to plant antipersonnel mines on Ukrainian soil. And we’re talking about one mine per square meter. This is one of the main obstacles to the counter-offensive.
Yulia Kovaliv, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ottawa
“You should also know that the tactics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces are the opposite: for us, the life of every soldier is important. The counter-offensive is done in such a way as to avoid deaths, ”she adds.
But the diplomat insists: “We are moving forward every day, whether by one kilometer or 500 meters. »
Cluster munitions: “caution”
The Ukrainian response is strongly supported by the G7 countries. Last week, at the NATO summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, they pledged long-term security support to Ukraine “in the land, air and sea sectors”.
One of the Group of Seven, the United States, however, went much further by agreeing to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, causing unease in Canada, which is a signatory to the international treaty banning their use.
“They are used with great caution,” assures the ambassador. She insists on the low misfire rate of submunitions – according to Washington, 2% to 4% of bombs do not explode as expected.
“It is ten times less, at the very least, than those used by Russia since the very beginning of the war”, affirms Yulia Kovaliv. If Kyiv uses these bombs, “it’s the reality of war”, because “we need other types of ammunition which our soldiers need to respond”, pleads Yulia Kovaliv.
Ukraine, Russia and the United States have not signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The last delivery of ammunition from Canada – which expressed its disagreement with the shipment of these bombs which it does not “support the use” because of their impacts “on civilians, especially children” – dates back to last March.
“We are very grateful,” said the ambassador, a former close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose administration was recently accused by the British Foreign Secretary of lacking gratitude.
With Agence France-Presse
Who is Yulia Kovaliv?
Aged 38, and born in Ivano-Frankivsk, about 600 km southwest of Kyiv, Yulia Kovaliv holds a master’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public administration.
After six years in the private sector, among other things as financial director of the gas distribution company Gazeks at the age of 23, she moved to the public sector in 2014.
She served as National Regulatory Commissioner for Energy and Utilities, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development, and Deputy Chief of Office of President Zelensky.
The keys to the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa were handed over to him after the start of the war in Ukraine on March 29, 2022.