Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmigal on Monday called on the European Union to supply Kyiv with more weapons and military equipment, and also offered Ukraine help in the matter of gas supplies to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russia.

“We need more modern weapons, such as air defense, anti-missile defense and naval defense,” Smyhal told reporters after a meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Council in Brussels, according to Reuters and Agerpres.

Ukraine’s prime minister has said his country also needs planes and more armored vehicles, although there are no signs that Russia wants to stop the war, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation”.

A week ago, after months of heavy Russian artillery attacks in the east, Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive, its biggest since it pushed Russian troops out of the capital Kyiv in March.

Kyiv claimed its biggest battlefield success on Monday, saying it had seized two cities in southern and one eastern Ukraine, as European markets reopened in freefall after Russia announced it was continuing to block its main gas pipeline to Germany.

“We can largely replace the import of Russian gas”

Schmihal hinted that Ukraine could supply gas to the EU to ease the energy crisis that has pushed prices to record highs. “We can largely replace Russian imports,” Schmihal said. “We have 30 billion cubic meters of gas in our reserves, and we can offer a part of them to our European partners to replace the Russian Federation in the unstable market,” the Ukrainian Prime Minister added.

For his part, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, promised to continue the support of Kyiv by the EU bloc, despite “any threat, any blackmail” that may come from Russia. “We will provide our political, financial, humanitarian and military support as long as it is needed,” Borrell said.

• Read also: The EU provides Ukraine with EUR 500 million in aid for education, housing and agriculture

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro