site.btaPrime Minister Denkov to New York Times: Europe Must Learn Its Lessons from Ukraine War

In an interview to New York Times Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov argued that Europeans should draw three lessons from the cascade of troubles in relation to the war in Ukraine.

Denkov spoke to journalist Steven Erlanger at the Munich Security Conference. 

The war in Ukraine was not just about gray zones between Europe and Russia, Denkov argued, but “whether the democratic world we value can be beaten, and this is now well understood in Europe,” quoted by the publication.

Second, European nations have realized that they must combine their forces in military, not just economic endeavors, to build up their own deterrence, he said. And third, they needed to separate Ukraine’s urgent needs for ammunition and air defense from longer-term strategic goals.

"But given the imperialist rhetoric of Russia’s leaders, long term in this case means three to five and maximum 10 years — it is really urgent,” said Denkov.

The article also quotes German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.