Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 April 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the leadership of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the comprehensive support for Ukraine in the face of armed aggression by the Russian Federation. The President of Ukraine stated this to the media following the talks with the Presidents of the four countries in Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that before the meeting, the leaders of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia visited Bucha, Borodyanka and Dmytrivka in the Kyiv region, which were recently liberated from Russian occupation.

“This means that it is very important for them to see with their own eyes what happened in these small towns that were burned and tortured. This is what we discussed today. And this is not about war – this is about something horrible, tragic, something incomprehensible,” he said.

The Ukrainian Head of State stressed that the leaders of Poland and the Baltic states have always been side by side with Ukraine and they have been the first in everything from the very beginning in terms of supporting our state.

“The first to support Ukraine’s desire to take its place in the European family. The first in the strong sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, which is being promoted in the EU countries. Even when we talk about weapons, armaments and equipping our army, the leaders of these countries were among the first,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President would like Ukraine to have the same friendly, partnership, honest and open strategic relations with all neighboring countries.

“And I am confident that these four states will be the first in all pages of the future history of Ukraine. And we have a great future, because with such partners and friends we will definitely win,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced.

For his part, Polish President Andrzej Duda said the last time he visited Ukraine was the day before the Russian invasion. He noted that the current visit is a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its heroic people.

Andrzej Duda also stressed that currently about 2 million Ukrainians (mostly women and children) are in Poland to protect themselves from war and death.

The President of the Republic of Poland said that today he saw with his own eyes the consequences of Russian aggression.

“It’s hard to believe. This is not war, this is terrorism. If someone sends aircraft and soldiers to bomb residential areas, to kill civilians, it is not war, but cruelty, banditry, terrorism,” he said.

Andrzej Duda stressed the importance of bringing those who committed crimes and who gave criminal orders to justice in international courts.

The Polish leader noted that the sanctions applied must lead to the end of the war and prevent aggression in the future.

He also expressed hope that a free, sovereign, independent Ukraine would soon become part of the European Union.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda noted that the Ukrainian nation has shown its strength and determination in recent weeks and continues to demonstrate these qualities every day in battles.

He also stressed that the Russian authorities must be held accountable for all heinous crimes committed by Russian soldiers in the Kyiv region.

According to Gitanas Nausėda, Ukraine must win this war, and for this it needs support – military, armed, humanitarian, financial, economic.

Gitanas Nausėda also called for tougher sanctions against Russia, including a full embargo on Russian oil and gas, sanctions against all Russian banks aimed to stop funding Vladimir Putin’s war.

The President of Lithuania also announced that they intend to create a hub of Ukrainian culture and education in Vilnius, which will work under the leadership of the First Ladies. “Lithuanians feel the Ukrainian pain. We know that Ukraine will win and prosper, and we will remain partners and close friends,” Gitanas Nausėda assured.

President of the Republic of Estonia Alar Karis stressed the need to push Russian troops further east to ensure peace in Europe.

He also stated that he, together with all the Estonian people, deeply sympathizes with Ukraine over the horrors the Russian occupiers did to the Ukrainians.

Alar Karis stressed that all these crimes must be investigated, and they must be taken into account when applying a new package of sanctions against Russia.

However, according to him, since diplomatic efforts have not helped avoid armed confrontation, Ukraine must receive assistance in the form of necessary weapons.

President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits noted that the process of bringing the aggressor to justice for war crimes committed against Ukrainians is already underway in international courts.

“I support the need for a special court or tribunal that will deal with the crime of aggression. Because so far there is no such international court where one can be convicted for such a crime with such a composition,” he said.

The President of Latvia is also convinced that Ukraine needs armed assistance now.

“Ukraine is fighting for us, and it is our duty to help by all means, weapons, so that Ukraine can defend itself from the enemy,” said Egils Levits.

The Latvian leader noted that today all NATO member states must help Ukraine with effective weapons. In addition, the Republic of Latvia can help with grain exports.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 April 2022.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held a regular meeting of a group of Ukrainian and international experts who analyze the real impact of sanctions against Russia and make proposals to strengthen them.

At the beginning of the meeting, he noted that the McFaul-Yermak international expert group has been working for three weeks. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Office of the Head of State highly appreciate the efforts of the experts, and this area is one of the key priorities for Ukraine today.

“Our common goal is to stop the war, and for that we must defeat Russia with all possible and impossible sanctions. I know that our experts now have two pages of priority sanctions against Russia, which are proposed for the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other partners,” Andriy Yermak said.

According to him, the list includes a full embargo on crude oil and natural gas exports, additional bans on financial institutions in both Russia and Belarus, further trade barriers and customs duties, and other powerful measures.

Approaches to strengthening personal restrictions and imposing secondary sanctions are also being developed.

Andriy Yermak noted that Ukrainian experts have already proposed their part of the action plan.

Former National Security Adviser to the President of the United States, Ambassador Michael McFaul, who is the coordinator of the international expert group, said that foreign experts will provide comments and suggestions shortly.

During the meeting the parties also heard a report by White House National Security Council member Peter Harrell, who focused on the political dimension of sanctions.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 11 April 2022.

Ukraine will be able to repel the armed aggression of the Russian Federation if we are provided with the necessary weapons as soon as possible. This was emphasized by Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak in an interview for 60 Minutes on CBS.

According to him, first of all Ukraine needs heavy weapons, in particular artillery.

“Secondly, we need tanks, military aircraft. We need all possible weapons that will help close the Ukrainian sky,” Andriy Yermak said.

The Head of the Office of the President noted that he has a profound and detailed dialogue with the American side, and stressed that US President Joseph Biden “has done more for Ukraine than anyone else.”

“But when you’re at war – we talk about it openly – you need more. And even that is not enough – we need everything as soon as possible. If we have it in time, we will win,” Andriy Yermak said.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 11 April 2022.

After Europe and the world saw the horrific crimes committed by Russian troops against civilians in the Kyiv and Donetsk regions, they began to help Ukraine more decisively to repel Russia’s armed aggression. Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said this in an interview for the host of the TV channel “Ukraine 24” Tygran Martyrosyan.

“In my opinion, the emotional component has already started working. Significantly. Especially after Bucha, Kramatorsk, etc. If in the beginning European countries perceived the war as a war of armies – they said that, of course, we will help with something, because Russia is much bigger than Ukraine – then after this emotional overstrain that took place in the Kyiv region and then in Kramatorsk, when people who were preparing for the evacuation were deliberately bombed, it will move Europe to even more radical action against Russia,” said Mykhailo Podolyak.

The Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President noted that long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe tried to pretend not to notice the threats and to preserve its usual way of life.

But Russia’s treacherous, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has forced all countries to reconsider their positions: some have taken the lead, and some have remained in the shadows.

Mykhailo Podolyak noted that, unfortunately, even today in some European countries there are pro-Russian sentiments, but Russia will never be a civilized state again according to moral and ethical grounds.

“You have to accept this, you have to minimize contacts with it at all levels,” Mykhailo Podolyak urged the world.

According to him, if Ukraine does not stop Russia now, Russia’s expansion will spread around the world.

“Russia, which violates global rules, will continue to invest in all kinds of terrorist organizations, and the whole European security will be threatened. Because everyone will understand that it is possible to create arbitrariness and wage wars violating the rules of war – rape people, burn them, make videos of it and show it on TV, brag about it. That’s what will happen,” he said.

Therefore, according to the Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President, Europeans must decide for themselves – to lose 1.5% of GDP today, pay a little more for utilities and lower living standards but stop the horde and return predictability to European security.

At the same time, Mykhailo Podolyak emphasized: Ukraine does not call on Europe to send its soldiers to fight alongside Ukrainians and no longer asks to close the skies. It urges to provide equipment, heavy artillery and air defense equipment.

“Give it to us, and then we, Ukrainians, will deal with it ourselves. In particular, with the Russians. And we will defend Europe in the end. And then we will count who owes what to whom and why we paid for it with so many lives of our citizens,” he said and thanked those who already have the right, pro-Ukrainian position.

The Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office is convinced that the war has shown that Ukraine is a country with a strong leadership spirit.

“A country with a really strong leadership spirit has emerged in the heart of Europe, with a strong-willed President who undertakes a more global responsibility, who offers the world to reconsider security formulas,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, adding that yesterday there were many who thought that Ukraine was a provincial country with a weak economy.

He also said that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Head of the Office of the President, the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and ministers also proved that they can withstand the hits.

According to the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, Europe and the world have begun to recognize the power of Ukraine and talk to us on an equal footing – as a country that has proven its high morale. He called the visit of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to Kyiv an example, which demonstrates the solidarity of the two nations. By his actions, Boris Johnson showed that one can be a brave politician.

“This is a symbol of the fact that Ukraine will not lose, because no one comes to those who potentially lose. And the example of Russia proves it,” Mykhailo Podolyak said.

He also stated that many leaders are already visiting our country, thus expressing solidarity with Ukraine and demonstrating faith in its victory, understanding of how rotten modern Russia is and showing that it is unacceptable for them.

They also provide practical assistance. The United Kingdom is the leader in this regard – in moderating processes and intensifying assistance, combining all programs.

“It seems to me that any visit today – and there are many of them now – emphasizes that Ukraine has become a symbol of freedom, the center of a free Europe, and that the struggle between good and evil, values of freedom and values of the totalitarian regime is concentrated here no matter how pompous it sounds. That is why everyone who comes here expresses solidarity not only with Ukraine, but also with the fact that the values of freedom, democracy, choice, competition are really important for them,” the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office summed up.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 11 April 2022.

In negotiations with the Russian Federation, Ukraine will do its utmost to end the war taking into account its national interests and to obtain reliable international guarantees to prevent such wars in the future. This was stated by Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak in an interview for the host of the TV channel “Ukraine 24” Tygran Martyrosyan.

“We have the Istanbul Communiqué, which clearly spells out Ukraine’s position. It is unchanged. We want to get a formulaic solution: both the possibility of ending the war and preventing similar wars in the future. Because today’s situation has shown that Ukraine is left alone with an expansionist empire that invests a lot of money in military technology. And if it remains more or less in its current form, in a year or two it will invade someone’s territory again,” Mykhailo Podolyak said.

According to him, even when the aggressor continues to attack Ukrainian cities, negotiations must be held, because our state must use all the tools to end the war on its own terms and with the least losses among the civilian population.

At the same time, Mykhailo Podolyak reiterated that issues related to territorial integrity and sovereignty remain inviolable for Ukraine.

The Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office noted that Ukraine’s goal is not a bilateral peace agreement with Russia, which will not fulfill it, but multilateral security guarantees that will prevent a repeat of such a war against our state.

“We want to have a specific formula that Ukraine is sitting at the negotiating table, the aggressor country – the Russian Federation is sitting at the negotiating table, and next to Ukraine are the countries that will guarantee Russia’s commitment not to attack,” he explained.

Mykhailo Podolyak noted that due to the imposed international sanctions, negative protest sentiments are already growing in Russia, and that is why the Russian authorities are forced to enter into negotiations to fix a certain current position. But the longer it delays the process, the higher the price will be for it.

According to him, Russia is now concentrating on the eastern direction – Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk – to prove to the world that it still knows how to fight.

“Because today, on the 47th day of the war, it proved to the world that it can’t fight – it can only stab,” Mykhailo Podolyak is convinced.

He noted that the Ukrainian army is ready to fight the occupiers.

“Either we or they have to gain a significant advantage on the battlefield. Only after that our positions in the negotiating group will be significantly strengthened and, of course, we will get what Ukraine needs. The negotiating team will definitely not work contrary to what is happening on the battlefield and certainly not against the way President Zelenskyy sees the whole situation, and he sees it much more clearly,” said the Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President.

In view of this, as Mykhailo Podolyak noted, it is worth waiting for the situation in eastern Ukraine to unfold in the coming weeks.

“And if we can prove once again that the Russian army is a rudiment, a useless institution, then we will have a great opportunity to prove that Russia as a state must stop dictating any conditions in the world,” said the Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 11 April 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with an expert group working on the issue of creating a special mechanism for the judicial review and pre-trial investigation of all war crimes committed by Russian aggressors on the territory of Ukraine.

This group includes: the Head of the President’s Office, his deputies, profile ministers and chairpersons of parliamentary committees, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the Chairman of the Supreme Court, and the chairpersons of courts of cassation.

At the beginning of the meeting, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Smyrnov reported on the readiness of the Office of the President together with relevant ministries to present a model of creating special international instruments for prosecuting Russia’s crimes against Ukraine and a mechanism of compensations for the victims. These models are ready for further discussion with Ukraine’s international partners.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the establishment of a special international military tribunal, which could provide a legal assessment of the evidence of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which is obvious. It was emphasized that the establishment of such a mechanism in no way prejudices the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, from which Ukraine expects decisions on crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The parties also discussed the issue of creating a special mechanism in the form of arbitration regarding compensation for the losses caused by Russia’s aggression to Ukraine.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 10 April 2022.

The countries’ abandonment of Russian oil will not lead to an increase in world oil prices, even if oil production does not increase significantly, which is unlikely. This was stated by Adviser to the President of Ukraine on economic issues Oleg Ustenko in an online interview for the South Korean media outlet MoneyS.

Oleg Ustenko noted that Russia’s crude oil exports have been growing steadily since the start of the war in Ukraine, reaching 4.7 million barrels last month, a record high since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Putin earns $ 1 billion a day from oil alone. European countries have even increased imports of Russian oil,” he said.

The President’s adviser pointed out that, for example, Germany now has the largest oil reserves in history and, according to the German Minister of Energy, will continue to import Russian oil.

Oleg Ustenko refuted the claim that with the introduction of the embargo on Russian oil, world oil prices will begin to rise significantly.

“The Office of the President of Ukraine conducted a simulation under the conditions that additional oil supply would not happen, which is the worst scenario. As a result, we realized that the hike in oil will become normal again, within a few weeks,” he said.

“Some European nations are concerned that inflation could happen. However, the market will undergo a rapid correction, and prices will return to acceptable levels. The reason that I believe the oil price will fall is because additional crude oil will be supplied in the market, from Latin America and the Middle East,” the Adviser to the President explained.

African countries and some countries in the Middle East have begun to prepare for increased production. It is possible that Iran and Venezuela will enter the world market with the supply of oil.

Therefore, according to Oleg Ustenko, abandoning Russia’s bloody oil is a top priority.

At the same time, he said, Russia will continue to sell its oil at a cheap price, even at half the current international oil price. And even if the West cuts imports significantly in the future, Russian oil could be bought by India and China.

However, Russia has limited opportunities to supply its oil, as its tanker fleet is quite small. Therefore, according to the President’s Adviser, the world should not help Russia in transporting energy – it should impose sanctions on Russian ports and impose an embargo on the transportation of Russian oil.

Oleg Ustenko thanked the United States for imposing an embargo on Russian oil and gas. At the same time, he hopes for additional sanctions, including a secondary boycott of Russian energy.

The President’s Adviser also thanked Seoul for supporting Ukraine, because, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently noted, the Republic of Korea sincerely feels the pain of Kyiv.

Oleg Ustenko called on the world to block the cash flow for Russian President Vladimir Putin and to stop importing bloody Russian oil and gas.