Ukrainian ambassador at Iowa State Fair calls for ‘more prayers and more weapons’

DES MOINES — Ukraine's ambassador to the United States manned the grill at the Iowa Pork Tent alongside Gov. Kim Reynolds, sampled a pork chop on a stick and strolled the Iowa State Fair Grounds with Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

Oksana Markarova is on a tour of Midwest states to discuss the stakes in Ukraine's battle with Russia. She also met with Des Moines city leaders Tuesday ahead of her visit to the Iowa State Fair.

Her trip was arranged by the German Marshall Fund, an organization that promotes alliances among the United States and European nations.

"So many people just said that they keep us in their prayers, and there is nothing more I want to hear because this is what we need in this moment, you know, more prayers and more weapons," Markarova told reporters outside the Horse Barn at the Iowa State Fair.

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The United States has provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in security assistance since the beginning of Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022.

Last month, the United States announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine that includes arms such as anti-tank weapons and air defense interceptors, and this past week thousands of Ukrainian troops have crossed into Russian territory.

“You know, if we can double down and get more support, then we can get to peace faster,” Markarova said. “And this is what we all are focused on. You know, nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. But I also know this is the feeling here.”

Iowans and others “might ask difficult questions” about Ukraine’s path to victory and fractured political support for sending military aid to Kyiv, with the war appearing to have no end in sight, “but all of them, literally all of them, have been supportive.”

"We are the army that actually is holding the ground against Russia, which was supposed to be the second most powerful army on the globe," Markarova said.

She said the United States is Ukraine's No. 1 strategic partner and Ukraine's wartime experience is of value to the nation as well as Europeans. It’s Ukraine's desire, she said, to become interoperable with NATO to contribute to the alliance's strength.

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"We have now the largest battle-tested army among all our of friends and allies," Markarov said. "… The reason why we want to be members of NATO is not for NATO to defend us, but for NATO to become stronger because we will have a lot to contribute to it."

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Markarov highlighted the shared cultural and agricultural heritage between Ukraine and Iowa. Ukraine is a major global supplier of agricultural commodities, including corn, wheat and sunflower seeds. Agriculture accounted for 41 percent of Ukraine's exports in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the nation has about a third of the world's most fertile land, according to a briefing from the European Parliament in April 2024.

Before Russia's invasion, the country exported about 6 million tons of grain alone per month via the Black Sea.

Despite intensified Russian attacks on Ukrainian sea and river ports, as well as blackouts from Russian attacks on the power grid, Ukraine doubled food exports in July to over 4.2 million metric tons from the same month last year, Reuters reported Monday.

She said she hoped to plant the seeds of agricultural cooperation and explore partnerships between Iowa corporations like John Deere, Collins Aerospace and Ukrainian institutions to support rebuilding infrastructure, energy, health care, education and other sectors.

Markarova noted Iowa was the first state to form a partnership with Ukraine. The state signed a partnership agreement with the Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine in 1996, five years after the country gained independence from the former Soviet Union. And three Iowa cities, including Des Moines, have formed “sister city” relationships in Ukraine.

Markarova said Iowa’s and Ukraine's agricultural economies complement one another, with both pursuing and potentially benefiting from developments in biotechnology and agricultural machinery.

“There is a lot we can do together,” she said. “And on a on a business side, you know, there is already so many corporations from here who either work in Ukraine or cooperate with us,” from the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant near Burlington supplying the artillery shells that Ukraine is using in its fight against Russia, to John Deere tractors.

“We really look forward to getting and buying more of them,” Markarova said of John Deere farm equipment. “Because we need them in order to be able to get back, especially after we win, but even now, because our farmers are planting and harvesting now.

“So there is a lot we already do together, but there is much more we can do together, and that's what we discussed with the governor, with (Des Moines) mayor (Connie Boesen), with Senator (Ernst), with all the businesses that we've met here,” she continued. “ … What can we do together to make both Iowa and Ukraine stronger? And there is a lot we can do.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com