The United States “welcomes Greece’s role and leadership as a key ally” in defending NATO’s southeastern flank, US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt tweeted on Friday, after meeting with Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Chief of Hellenic National Defense General Staff Konstantinos Floros.
“I appreciated the opportunity … to underscore our shared commitment to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” mr Pyatt said.
Speaking via video link to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Conference being held in Kalamata, mr Payatt referred to the “grotesque spectacle of Vladimir Putin justifying his bloody invasion of Ukraine by misappropriating history and claiming falsely that democratic Ukraine somehow needs to be de-nazified.”
“ As someone who lived in Kyiv during the Revolution of Dignity, and worked closely with Rabbi Bleich and other leaders of that country’s Jewish community to understand Ukraine’s traumatic Holocaust history, I found President Putin’s assertion both painful and offensive to the millions of Ukrainians who perished in the Second World War,” the ambassador said.