Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 29 March 2022.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held an inaugural online meeting with a group of Ukrainian and international experts who will analyze the real impact of sanctions against Russia.

“Today, sanctions are issued by our partners almost every week. They are different. Some of them have already started working and are very sensitive to Russia. And some seem to sound like sanctions, but they don’t work at all. As for some Russians, they have already found ways to bypass them. The sanctions mechanism itself is very powerful, and our goal is for the sanctions to work effectively,” he said at the beginning of the meeting.

Andriy Yermak believes that it is necessary to reach the pace of the weekly increase of sanctions pressure against Russia. According to him, Ukraine’s partners are currently working on the introduction of a new sanctions package against Russia. Critical import chains will be targeted, including export controls and sanctions aimed at suppliers cooperating with the Russian military-industrial complex.

The Head of the President’s Office also noted that there can be no question of lifting, stopping or changing the sanctions against the aggressor, until the war is stopped, troops are withdrawn from Ukraine, our state receives reparations and compensation for the damage to the Ukrainian state and its citizens.

Former US Ambassador to Russia and former US National Security Adviser Michael McFaul said it was necessary to review what had been done and ensure that new sanctions were imposed on Russia every week to increase pressure on Russia.

Daniel Fried, former State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, said there was a need to halt Russian oil and gas exports as much as possible and reduce relevant profits. He is also convinced that the dynamics and speed of decision-making are important in the issue of sanctions pressure.

For his part, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Rostyslav Shurma noted that the issue of oil exports is the most important and sensitive when it comes to effective pressure on Russia, and it is on it that we should focus the most.

He also stressed the need to recognize Russia as a state sponsoring terrorism.

“This will automatically lead to bans on many corporations. Not only those related to oil and gas,” said Rostyslav Shurma.

He also considers sanctions against the entire Russian political elite or people involved in politics important.

In addition, in his opinion, a halt in the supply of certain chemicals, spare parts and important components for the mechanical engineering, defense and oil refining industries will be critical for Russia.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 29 March 2022.

The new multilateral treaty should make any aggression against Ukraine impossible and become a key element of the new international security system. This was stated by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak commenting on the face-to-face round of Ukrainian-Russian talks, which took place on March 29 in Istanbul.

“We all and I personally liaise around the clock with our international partners to elaborate a quality and effective multilateral security treaty,” he said.

According to the Head of the Office of the President, today the relevant work is underway together with the United States, Great Britain, China, Canada, France, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Israel. The leaders of these states have appointed specific political and security advisers. They are working with the Ukrainian party on a future document on security guarantees.

“Ukraine needs clearly and qualitatively formulated legally effective and binding international security guarantees. The horrors that the Russians have brought to the Ukrainian people must never be repeated,” Andriy Yermak said.

He stressed that “Ukraine is primarily concerned about ending the war, withdrawal of Russian troops from our territory and, of course, building a new security structure.”

The Head of the President’s Office noted that today it is important for Russia to stop the shelling immediately and for the full-fledged humanitarian corridors to all cities where a humanitarian catastrophe already exists or is approaching to be opened as soon as possible. First of all, we are talking about Mariupol, other cities of Donbas and Chernihiv.

Andriy Yermak thanked the members of the Ukrainian delegation for their important and difficult work.

“I’m sure everyone understands how difficult it is to negotiate with representatives of Russia today,” said the Head of the President’s Office.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 29 March 2022.

During the talks with Russia in Turkey, the Ukrainian party officially outlined its proposals for a new system of security guarantees for Ukraine. This was announced by Head of the Ukrainian delegation, Head of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamia.

“Today we came up with an official proposal for a new system of security guarantees for Ukraine. We insist that this must be an international treaty signed by all countries – guarantors of security, which will be ratified, so as not to repeat the mistake that was once in the Budapest Memorandum. We want it to be a working international mechanism of concrete security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.

David Arakhamia noted that the representatives of the Ukrainian delegation did not sign any documents – they only voiced Ukraine’s proposals.

According to him, the future treaty must contain a provision according to which within three days after the start of the war, aggression, military operation, any disguised, hybrid war against Ukraine, the guarantor countries hold consultations, after which they are legally obliged to provide military assistance to our country, in particular in the form of armaments and the closure of the skies.

It is suggested that the guarantors will be permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Great Britain, France, China and the Russian Federation, but “this should be discussed separately.” Ukraine also wants to see Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland and Israel among the guarantors. In addition, it is offered to provide for the free accession of other guarantors to the treaty.

According to David Arakhamia, this mechanism is even clearer than in Article 5 of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty founding NATO, which envisages no limits as regards the timing of consultations.

As for the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, since their status is not regulated, international security guarantees will not work temporarily in these territories.

Ukraine also offers to envisage in the future treaty that all guarantor countries not only do not object to the accession of the Ukrainian state to the European Union, but also should assist in this process.

Member of the Ukrainian delegation Oleksandr Chalyi who heads the legal group of negotiators added that the key requirement of the Ukrainian party to the future treaty is clear, legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, which should be analogous in content and form to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

“If we manage to consolidate these key provisions, which are a fundamental requirement for the Ukrainian party, Ukraine will be in a position to actually fix the current status of a non-aligned and non-nuclear state of permanent neutrality. Which has already historically been enshrined in our Declaration of State Sovereignty adopted on July 16, 1990,” he said.

Accordingly, Ukraine will undertake not to deploy foreign military bases, foreign military contingents on its territory, not to join military-political alliances, and military exercises on the territory of Ukraine will be possible with the consent of the guarantor countries.

“But it is fundamentally important that nothing in the future treaty will deny Ukraine’s right to join the European Union. And, secondly, the guarantor countries are committed to facilitating this process,” said Oleksandr Chalyi.

He stressed that negotiations with Russia would continue in the next two weeks. At the same time, Ukraine has already begun consultations with all guarantor countries, and it will soon be possible to invite these countries to participate in multilateral negotiations.

“Until then, the most fundamental differences must be settled at the highest political level. Then a multilateral conference will be prepared, in which senior officials of the guarantor countries will take part, and this multilateral treaty will be signed,” Oleksandr Chalyi said.

For his part, Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, stressed that all the proposals of the Ukrainian delegation will be coordinated with Ukrainian society. According to him, the implementation of decisions on security guarantees will take place through an all-Ukrainian referendum, and after that – the ratification of this document by the Ukrainian parliament and the parliaments of the guarantor countries.

“That’s the key thing. We need to get the support of society for this agreement to be consolidating for us,” he said.

Mykhailo Podolyak stressed that the position of Ukraine and Russia on the status of Crimea was offered to be fixed as a separate item.

“To hold bilateral negotiations on the status of Crimea and Sevastopol separately within 15 years. In a separate paragraph, we offer to the Russian party that Ukraine and Russia will not use military or armed forces to resolve the Crimean issue during this period, while negotiations are underway,” said the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office.

According to Mykhailo Podolyak, the issue of the status of certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is proposed to be included in a separate item, which will be considered within the negotiations between the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia.

“All controversial issues have been more or less discussed, our proposals have been made,” said the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 29 March 2022.

An expert group will be set up at the Office of the President of Ukraine within a week to monitor and analyze compliance with international sanctions against Russia. After all, it is important for Ukraine that sanctions packages against the Russian Federation are effective. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his address.

“It is important for us that the sanctions packages are effective and substantial enough, given what is already being done against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. If the sanctions packages are weak or do not work enough, if they can be circumvented, it creates a dangerous illusion for the Russian leadership that they can continue to afford what they are doing now. And Ukrainians pay for it with their lives. Thousands of lives,” the Head of State emphasized.

“Therefore, starting this week, we are creating a group of experts at the President’s Office – Ukrainian and international, who will constantly analyze the sanctions against Russia – what they really influence,” he said.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained, sanctions should work as intended, without any possibility of circumventing them.

The President also stressed that Ukraine would not agree with the passive sanctions position of some entities regarding Russia.

“There should be no “suspended” sanctions packages – that if the Russian troops do something, then there will be some answer… We went through this story last year when we said that strong preventive sanctions against Russia were needed to prevent an invasion. The preventive package was not made. A full-scale war has begun,” the President noted.

According to him, there are now many hints at the possibility of tightening sanctions, such as an embargo on Russian oil supplies to Europe, if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

“Doesn’t everything that the Russian military is doing and has already done deserve an oil embargo? Don’t phosphorus bombs deserve that? Don’t the shelled chemical production or nuclear power plant deserve that?” Volodymyr Zelenskyy concluded.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 28 March 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in a video conference mode with Ukrainian journalists, who create a continuous round-the-clock telethon “United News” and tell citizens the truth.

The Head of State noted the honest and united work of the media representatives.

“Now, during the war – terrible, tragic, but for Ukraine definitely victorious – you really are an army. A large, powerful army. I believe that today you are a great hope, a foundation, one of those whales on which a man in an ordinary Ukrainian town stands, a man who stops tanks with his bare hands. Today, people like you are holding on to the truth that the Russians do not have,” the President said.

He supported the proposal of journalists to increase the participation of government officials and MPs in the telethon in order to better communicate government initiatives.

The President stressed that the Ukrainian authorities are constantly in dialogue with representatives of Ukraine’s partner countries. He thanked journalists for revealing to the world the image of Ukraine, which has been undisclosed so far.

“I want everything we do, everything you do, everything people do, our military, and all those victims were not in vain,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The President expressed his conviction that Ukraine would definitely win the war.

“We have definitely become leaders who have agency in the world. And we are not behind the scenes. It seems important to me. It is important that Ukraine has ceased to be a part of the Russian Federation for the whole world,” the President said.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 28 March 2022.

The most important issues in the negotiations with Russia are security guarantees, neutrality and Ukraine’s nuclear-free status; “denazification” and demilitarization are not discussed at all, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview for Russian media from “Zygar” YouTube channel, “Rain” TV channel, “Meduza” portal, “Kommersant” and “Novaya Gazeta”.

The Head of State noted that at the beginning of the talks the Russian Federation issued a public ultimatum. It contained the same items that were discussed in the media, in particular the so-called denazification and demilitarization.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this was an informational throw-in that Russia usually resorts to when it delays negotiations, but wants to pretend that the process is ongoing and something is being done.

We do not discuss “denazification” and demilitarization at all. I said that we will not sit at the negotiating table at all if we talk about some kind of demilitarization, some kind of “denazification”. For me, these are completely incomprehensible things,” the President said.

At the same time, he noted that the issues of guarantees of security, neutrality, nuclear-free status of our country remain the most important, as Russia calls NATO enlargement one of the reasons for invading Ukraine.

The Head of State noted that this issue has been deeply elaborated, and Ukraine is ready to agree on it only if it has guarantees fixed on paper.

“I want it not to be another piece of paper like the Budapest Memorandum. We are interested in turning this paper into a meaningful agreement, which will be signed by all guarantors,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Verification of this document must also be carried out in the parliaments of the guarantor countries, and a referendum on this issue must be held in Ukraine.

“The Russian side needs assurances that this will happen. Therefore, the referendum. Because only the people can decide that there can be such a status and such guarantors. The referendum will take place in a few months, and the amendments to the Constitution will take at least a year. According to our current legislation,” the President stated.

At the same time, the Head of State stressed that holding such a referendum will be possible only after the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine. After all, when active hostilities continue in the country and troops of another state are present, “no one will ever recognize the results of this referendum.”

“We must have agreements with President Putin. The guarantors will not sign anything if the troops are not withdrawn,” he said.

“We met and agreed. Our agreement with him. With signatures, seals, even blood, doesn’t matter. And that’s enough to start the process of troops withdrawal. The troops must be withdrawn, the guarantors will sign everything, and all this will start working. Ratifications in parliaments, a referendum in several months, and only then – amendments to the Constitution,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding that his personal meeting with President Vladimir Putin is needed for that.

As for the issue of the Russian language in Ukraine, the President believes that it can be resolved through mutual respect for the languages of all neighboring countries, which should also be documented.

“In general, I would like to cut off this constant argument about language. We all speak the way we want and the language we want. We have more than 100 nationalities in the country. That’s why I said: only a mirror respect for the history, languages, cultural values of all neighbors. I accept that. I am sure that our people will accept it if they want. Because all this will be decided one way or another by the people, the voters,” he said.

The President stressed that every next day of the war calls into question the use of the Russian language in Ukraine in general.

“People themselves will not want to perceive and speak this language, watch movies and so on. Especially when they try to instill love for the language through blood, as happened in the case of Ukraine. People themselves will not want that,” he said.

As the Head of State explained, if any national minority wants to open an educational or other institution, make publications in its own language, there should be mirror steps regarding the Ukrainian language.

“Respect for the languages of neighboring nations. I am interested in such an agreement, I want to sign it. I want to sign it with all neighboring countries. I am interested in Russia, Hungary, Poland – we have many historical issues, Romania and so on. We have many national minorities. And this agreement will be enough to respect certain languages both inside the country and abroad. Therefore, the issue of language, I am sure, will be off the agenda, because it will be resolved,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed up.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 27 March 2022.

International corporations that have left the Russian market fairly quickly and completely will be awarded a special Peace Award by the Office of the President of Ukraine. This was announced by Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak.

“With great gratitude from the Ukrainian people at this turning point in our history. They deserve the respect of Ukrainians and people around the world. After all, indifference and silence are complicity,” he stressed.

Andriy Yermak noted that Ukraine continues to work actively with global brands for them to leave the Russian market.

“Our goal is not a single penny to the budget of the aggressor country. Quite a few companies have already supported Ukraine and are leaving the Russian market. And I am convinced that those who still have doubts must make the right choice. It is impossible to support war crimes, it is inadmissible to conduct trade with war criminals and make money on the killing of civilians,” said the Head of the President’s Office.

Andriy Yermak is convinced that the “Peace Award” is very important today, because we live in a critical moment when the issue is point-blank: to support the evil that kills women and children, or to choose a democratic world.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 27 March 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the defenders of Mariupol had a choice to leave the city and save their lives, but they did not want to leave their wounded brothers-in-arms and the bodies of the dead there. The Head of State spoke about this in an interview for Russian media from “Zygar” YouTube channel, “Rain” TV channel, “Meduza” portal, “Kommersant” and “Novaya Gazeta”.

“There are our troops inside (the city of Mariupol – ed.). Where Russian troops can enter, they have entered. They did not enter certain parts of the city. Because there are our men who refused to leave despite their appeals,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he regularly communicates with the defenders of Mariupol and members of their families.

“Every two days I get in touch for sure… I also told them that I understand everything, we will definitely come back, but if you feel that you need to leave and you feel that it is right and that you can survive, do it. I understand what it looks like for the military, but do it. I gave them that choice. And they said: we can’t, the wounded are here, we will not leave the wounded. Moreover, they said they would not leave the dead,” the President said.

The Head of State also said that there was an attempt to agree with the Russian side on the removal of the bodies of killed soldiers and civilians lying in the open air, but such removal was not allowed.

“The reality is that the city is blocked by the Russian military, all entrances and exits from Mariupol are blocked, the port is mined. The humanitarian catastrophe in the city is obvious. Because food, medicine, and water can’t be delivered. The Russian troops are shelling humanitarian convoys and killing drivers,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

According to him, due to the shelling, many humanitarian convoys returned without reaching Mariupol.

The President also confirmed that in the framework of the agreements, people were leaving the city using civilian transport, but Russia also organized the forcible removal of Mariupol residents to the occupied territories.

“According to our data, more than 2,000 children were deported. Which means they were abducted. Because we do not know the exact locations of all these children. There were children with and without parents. It’s a catastrophe, it’s horrible,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to him, these people are being taken by the Russian side to replenish the “exchange fund”.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 27 March 2022.

The Ukrainian side is ready to exchange Russian prisoners of war for Ukrainian prisoners of war before the end of hostilities. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview for Russian media from “Zygar” YouTube channel, “Rain” TV channel, “Meduza” portal, “Kommersant” and “Novaya Gazeta”.

“Lists are being compiled. Our military, I know, made lists. There are lists of all those who are in captivity. I don’t know if everyone is interested in them. Politicians, I think, are not very interested in them. I’m just not sure that the Russian side needs these lists,” the Head of State said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that he stood for exchanging prisoners of war without waiting for the end of the war.

“It is not necessary to act according to some generally accepted canons: like let’s wait until the end of the war, or let’s capture more… I do not understand that. I believe that there is an agreement to exchange everyone for everyone, we have this number – let’s exchange for this number. Let’s not measure: 10 for 10, 11 for 11,” the President said.

He also noted that Ukraine does not want to leave the corpses of Russian soldiers on its territory, but wants to hand them over to the relatives of the dead.

“They (the Russian side – ed.) first refused, then offered us some bags… It all looks like… You know, even when a dog or a cat dies, people don’t do so. These are garbage bags. I don’t understand what people think, what the parents of these children think,” the President said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that for him, as the President of a warring country, such an attitude is unacceptable even towards soldiers of an enemy state.

“It’s not cattle. And why is it dreadful? Because if this is the attitude towards their own people, then what is the attitude towards everyone else? And we are definitely not “friends” for the Russian government,” he concluded.