A failure to stop the export of alumina from Aughinish Alumina to Russia will be “stained with the blood of Ukrainians killed by the weapons it helps produce,” Ukraine’s former minister for foreign affairs has said.Dmytro Kuleba, who held the post between 2020 and 2024, said Ireland should lead the efforts to ban alumina exports to Russia and support targeted sanctions at European Union level against Aughinish.The Irish Times and other media organisations recently revealed Aughinish Alumina is shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia where it is turned into aluminium. These smelters then sell finished aluminium to a Moscow-based trading company which supplies much of the Russian arms industry.The Shannon estuary refinery is owned by Russian metals giant Rusal, which Swedish tax authorities recently concluded remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.[ Judge insists An Coimisiún Pleanála ‘falsified’ records in Aughinish Alumina caseOpens in new window ]The Co Limerick refinery employs 475 people directly and 1,500 people indirectly. The Department of Enterprise says a report it has commissioned into alleged links between the plant and the Russian military will be completed in the next 10 days. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has stressed that any decision to impose sanctions on the plant could be done only at an EU level. Kuleba was in Dublin for the Law Society’s Centre for Justice and Law Reform summer school on the subject of the rules-based international order. He stressed that Ukraine is grateful for the support given to the tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have made their homes in Ireland since the Russian invasion of February 2022. He also said the Ukrainian government appreciates the support that Ireland has given to fast track Ukraine’s membership of the EU. However, he said the perception remained that the Irish Government was helping Ukraine on the one hand and helping Russia on the other. He told The Irish Times: “From Ukraine’s perspective, the question is not how to close Aughinish. It is how to close the supply line from Aughinish to Russia so that its alumina doesn’t reach arms manufacturers through Russian smelters.”He suggested Ireland should look for alternative markets for the alumina that is currently being exported to Russia. “There must be a way to keep the jobs and plant operating while ending all exports to Russia. The Irish Government could demand from the owners to redirect production towards non-Russian customers – close the supply line, not necessarily the plant. “Ireland could lead the effort to ban alumina exports to Russia and support targeted sanctions against Aughinish, Rusal and its Russian beneficiaries if that trade continues. “If that does not happen, Ireland must understand: every tonne of alumina exported to Russia will be stained with the blood of Ukrainians killed by the weapons it helps produce.”Kuleba said Ukraine now has air supremacy over Russia and is using medium-range and long-range drones and missiles to target Russia’s energy infrastructure.The Aughinish Alumina plant is owned by Rusal, a Russian company. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire “Ukraine is going to win this war. I said it in 2022, and I hold that now, not only because I’m Ukrainian but because I think that at the very core of it, this is the war between a declining imperial project and an emerging European project.“And if we know anything about the way history works, Ukraine will have to win this war. The only the only question is when and at what cost.”He conceded that Ukraine does not have the military strength to push Russia out of Ukrainian territory that it occupies, but victory will be achieved “only as a part of the broader collapse of the regime in Russia”.The Ukrainian military says its forces are killing or injuring between 30,000 and 40,000 Russian personnel every month.[ Aughinish Alumina report ready ‘within 10 days’, says Minister for Enterprise Peter BurkeOpens in new window ]Kuleba said Russian president Vladimir Putin’s indifference to the country’s massive casualty rates is part of the “mentality of Russian rulers, to pay no attention to the value of human life”. “And I personally believe that Putin has no concern if he loses 50,000 people per month. Because what is human life compared to the big historic goals he pursues in this war? He doesn’t care about lives. He cares about one thing. What will be written about him in history books?”Kuleba told the conference Ukraine would not be deterred from pursuing its military strategy by the threat of Russian nuclear retaliation. “I live in Kyiv and every time there is a ballistic attack, I take my family into the basement,” he said. “And I experience what other Ukrainians experience on a daily basis. And let me say this: Ukrainians will continue to endure not because we are stronger or more resilient than others. “The reason for this endurance is different. We, as a nation, understand that breaking down will not bring relief. Things will only get worse.”