The Foreign Minister announced this Wednesday that Portugal will make an emergency contribution of one million euros to a non-lethal NATO support package for Ukraine in the context of the country’s energy crisis.
“Portugal will make an extraordinary contribution to the Comprehensive Assistance Package, which is a NATO package for non-lethal support and therefore will also be dedicated to restoring Ukraine’s energy potential. An extraordinary amount of one million euros,” he said.
Joao Gomes Cravinho spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Council meeting that brings NATO foreign ministers to the Palace of Parliament in the Romanian capital and ends today.
Asked if Portugal would help Ukraine with generators or other types of materials that would help restore the country’s energy system and fight winter, which NATO says the Russian president is using as a “weapon of war”, Cravinho said the possibility was being explored, but emphasized that “there is currently a general shortage in the generator market due to high demand precisely to withstand the destruction caused by Russia.”
“As for military support, it is constant. Portugal is constantly reviewing its capabilities, and throughout the war we will definitely increase our support, ”he stressed.
Gomes Cravinho summed up the meeting by stating that it was two “very interesting” days of work and that they showed “great unity and rapprochement” of the allies.
The head of Portuguese diplomacy stated that Russia’s “military failures on the ground” led to the fact that this country “focused its attacks primarily on the civilian population, namely, seeking to damage civilian and electrical infrastructure, in the sense of trying to create the maximum difficult conditions possible for civilian population.”
“This is a war crime, another war crime. All these months, Russia has demonstrated extreme indifference and disregard for international law, including the laws of war. Let Russia know that NATO will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he said.
The Prime Minister of Portugal was in Kyiv on May 21 last year, met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and expressed Portugal’s readiness to participate in the program for the restoration of schools and kindergartens in Ukraine or to sponsor the reconstruction from the territory to be determined by the Ukrainian authorities.
Of the options for reconstruction, the leader of the Portuguese executive preferred schools and kindergartens, saying that the Portuguese state has a recent experience in implementing these programs to modernize educational institutions.
In Kyiv, following a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, Antonio Costa signed an agreement on providing financial support to Ukraine in the amount of 250 million euros.
Portugal has already delivered 315 tons of lethal and non-lethal military materials to Ukraine, including “weapons and ammunition”, 14 armored personnel carriers and 700 first aid kits “ready for delivery”, according to the latest figures provided by Defense Minister Helena Carreiras. “.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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