Latvia’s ambassador on deep strikes into Russia: better late than never

Russian aggression must be stopped as soon as possible, and the only way for this is to achieve Ukraine’s victory while the permission from the U.S. to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia’s rear will contribute to this end.

Latvian Ambassador to Türkiye Bahtijors Hasans said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"We have already 1,000 days of war. At the same time, I commend the Ukrainian nation for their resilience against Russian aggression. And we have to stop Russian aggression as soon as possible. But the only way how we should stop it is the victory of Ukraine," Hasans said.

The Latvian diplomat, who was Latvia's ambassador to the OSCE in 2014, emphasized that Russia failed to realize the mistakes they made.

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"I know this region, also Crimea, Donbas, and Lugansk.  At the same time, we created Minsk group and Normandy group, but we were hoping Russia will understand their mistakes and they will improve their mistakes, but it didn't happen. And now we have only one choice. We should defeat Russia and Ukraine should win this war. Not just Ukraine, we are all suffering, we all should win this war. And I really commend the Ukrainian nation and I'm very thankful to the Ukrainian nation for your heroic behavior," said the Latvian ambassador to Türkiye.

In his opinion, the permission from the USA for Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets on Russian soil will contribute to Ukraine’s victory.

"Every step will make closer the end of this war against Ukraine, against Ukrainian nation, against global order. I think it's one of the steps. Maybe it should be taken much more before, but still, it's better late than never. And I hope it will be one of the possibilities how we can win," Hassans said.

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The diplomat noted that Latvia supports – and will support – Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression, adding that his country, per capita, is one of those that helps Ukraine the most.

"Just a few days ago our foreign minister raised 100,000 euros for drones, and it was just a charity and raising money. And there is a lot of such an initiative in Latvia. And we understand that we are fighting for liberty for everyone as well," the diplomat added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on the 1,000th day since the start of the full-scale Russian incursion into Ukraine, events were held in the Ukrainian Embassy in Türkiye to commemorate Ukraine’s fallen defenders of Ukraine and civilian victims. Also, an exhibition of Support Ukraine posters was launched on the same day.