European de-escalation tactics concerning Ukraine have proven ineffective, and new approaches are needed to address Russia’s war, Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, according to the country’s national broadcaster LRT.
“I believe we have reached a point where we can say that the strategy of supporting Ukraine over the past three years – almost 1,000 days – has failed,” he said.
A new strategy should not be based on diplomacy as “peace through de-escalation” because it is not working.
A newer strategy should be “grounded in strength. […] And when I say strength, I mean weapons and the complete removal of all restrictions,” Landsbergis added.
Landsbergis also voiced caution on Nov. 18 regarding the much touted news that the U.S. had allowed Ukraine to use mid-range ATACMS ballistic missiles against Russia, as reported by European Pravda and The New York Times.
“I’m not opening the champagne [bottle] yet because we don’t know the actual number of missiles Ukraine has. The real question is whether enough missiles have been provided,” the minister said.
He also specified that certain restrictions regarding the use of the advanced U.S. projectiles haven’t been entirely lifted.
“The second point is whether the restrictions have truly been removed because I saw in the press release that they have only been partially lifted,” he said, referring to geographical targets within Russia.
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