Austrian politicians support Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression. However, one opposition party – the Austrian Freedom Party, uses neutrality as a pretext to hinder aid to Ukraine, Vasyl Khymynets, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Austria, told Profil magazine.
Earlier, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said that no peace could be established between Kyiv and Moscow without considering Ukraine’s opinion.
The minister emphasized that the Ukrainian people must decide for themselves when they are ready for negotiations, as per UkrInform.
The official added that Europeans mistakenly hoped for rational behavior from the Russian regime over Ukraine and should have reacted earlier and more clearly demonstrated “red lines” to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian ambassador Khymynets said he expects the new federal government of Austria, which will be formed after the parliamentary elections in September, “will also recognize the danger posed by Russia.” He also expressed expectations that “Ukraine, as a victim of this war of annihilation, will receive possible assistance.”
“The issue of war is one of the most important in the election campaign, as we also saw in the European Parliament elections. But the Austrian Freedom Party underestimated itself: one cannot score many points with manipulative and distorted content about the war,” Khymynets claimed.
The ambassador noted that during his meetings with Austrian politicians and officials, especially at the local level, he explains that “Ukrainians are the first to want peace,” but Russia is still uninterested in it. Most of them “understand that Russia started an unprovoked war,” according to the ambassador.
“People think there will be peace if there is no shooting. I explained to them that there had been no peace since 2014. As long as aggressor troops are in Ukraine, there will be no peace. As long as territories are occupied, there is no peace, only terror, violence, and despotism. Putin clearly says: everything belongs to me, even more than what has already been seized,” Khymynets added.
He emphasized that there can be no compromise in Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine “because it is not about territory, but about Putin denying us the right to exist.”
In this context, the ambassador added that Austria stands on the side of international law and Ukraine.
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