Tag: Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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Zelenskyy Slams Carlson-Putin Interview as ‘Nonsense

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.(photo: https://www.instagram.com/zelenskiy_official/)

In Carlson’s recent interview with Putin, the Russian president spouted propaganda about his country’s current war with Ukraine and went after the U.S….reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the recent interview between former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Russian President Vladimir Putin, denouncing it as “two hours of nonsense” during an exclusive interview with Fox News’s “Special Report” anchored by Bret Baier, as reported by The Hill.

“I don’t have time to hear more than two hours of bull–about us, about the world, about the United States, about our relations and this interview with a killer,” Zelenskyy said during an interview in Ukraine on Fox News’s “Special Report” with anchor Bret Baier.

In Carlson’s recent interview with Putin, the Russian president spouted propaganda about his country’s current war with Ukraine and went after the U.S. The former cable TV host was quickly criticized for giving Putin a platform.

Zelenskyy’s comments also follow the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose passing President Biden has blamed on Putin.

“Reports of his death, if they’re true, and I have no reasons to believe they’re not–Russian authorities are going to tell their own story,” Biden said in remarks from the White House.

“But make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled,” he continued.

The president also referred to Putin as a “crazy SOB,” at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday when speaking about climate change.

“This is the last existential threat, it is climate. We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate,” Biden said.

The Kremlin hit back at Biden for the “SOB” comment Thursday, saying that he was trying “to look like a Hollywood cowboy.”

The tensions between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States continue to escalate amidst political rhetoric and geopolitical maneuvers, underscoring the complex dynamics shaping international relations in the 21st century. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Kremlin slams Biden’s comments on Putin

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Yoon makes surprise visit to Ukraine in show of support

Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee arrived in Ukraine following a three-day official visit to Poland, reports Asian Lite News

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Saturday, sending a strong signal of support for the war-torn nation, his office said.

Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee arrived in Ukraine following a three-day official visit to Poland, according to senior presidential secretary for press affairs Kim Eun-hye.

He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later in the day to discuss areas where South Korea can provide additional aid, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Earlier Saturday, Yoon visited the site of mass killings in Bucha, near Kyiv, before visiting Irpin, a civilian residential area that has been subject to large-scale missile attacks, the press secretary said.

He was also scheduled to lay a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv.

Further details are yet to be disclosed.

Yoon has shown strong support for Ukraine in line with his campaign for freedom, human rights and the rule of law in solidarity with like-minded nations.

South Korea has provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in its protracted war with Russia but denied the country’s requests for lethal weapons.

This will be the second Yoon-Zelensky meeting after one held on the sidelines of a G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.

At the time, Yoon promised additional non-lethal aid, including demining equipment and ambulances.

Yoon’s visit to Ukraine came at the end of a two-leg trip that earlier took him to Lithuania for the NATO Summit and then to Poland for an official visit.

ALSO READ: Turkey preparing to host Putin in August

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Erdogan: Ukraine deserves NATO membership

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in the Turkish city of Istanbul,

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in the Turkish city of Istanbul, reports Asian Lite News

NATO

Zelensky spent this week visiting NATO countries, courting support ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania next week where members are expected to reaffirm that Ukraine will eventually join, the CNN reported.

The Turkish President said: “Without a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO.”

Zelensky said he was “happy to hear” that Turkey supports Ukraine’s bid to join during a joint press conference.

This is Zelensky’s first visit to Turkey since the war broke out between his country and Russia in February 2022, but he has often spoken on the phone with Erdogan, whose country has been pushing for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The two presidents met on Friday night at the Vahdettin Palace on the Asian side of the city, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Finishing a busy day in Turkey,” Zelensky tweeted, followed by another tweet of an image of the two leaders shaking hands. “Coordination of positions on the peace formula, the NATO summit, security guarantees, and the grain initiative” were discussed, he said.

Meanwhile, the White House said that Ukraine’s entry into NATO will be discussed at the alliance’s ensuing summit but it won’t come out as a member.

Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Advisor, said that the summit to be held next week in Vilnius will highlight NATO’s readiness to consider Ukraine’s membership, which he termed a “milestone” in itself. Sullivan said, “The NATO Summit will dive into the question of NATO’s relationship with Ukraine, both the question of its pathway towards future membership and the question of an ongoing partnership that has existed for several years.”

“Ukraine’s pathway to NATO will be discussed at the summit, but Kyiv still has further steps that it needs to take before membership and Ukraine will not be joining NATO coming out of this summit,” he added.

Sullivan noted that Ukraine would have the chance to talk about the reforms that are still essential for Kyiv to match NATO standards.

Even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to attend the summit to establish that his country should join the alliance when its conflict with Russia ends, Sullivan said the White House expects Sweden’s NATO membership to win final approval in the foreseeable future.

He also said Turkey and Hungary can “possibly” drop their opposition at the forthcoming summit.

“If not, we believe it will happen in the not-too-distant future,” said Sullivan, adding that there was “fundamental goodwill” towards Sweden’s move within the alliance.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland ended decades of military non-alignment and submitted applications to join NATO last year.

Finland officially joined the bloc in April, but Turkey and Hungary prevented Sweden from joining because of the requirement for unanimity in support of new members.

Due to a long-standing disagreement over Stockholm’s decision to allow alleged Kurdish militants to dwell in the Nordic nation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preventing Sweden from entering the European Union.

ALSO READ: Zelensky pressures Biden over Ukraine’s NATO bid

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Zelensky discusses Ukraine’s integration with EU leaders

Russian athletes should have no place in 2024 Olympics: Volodymyr Zelensky

Zelensky said that he received a report from von der Leyen on the second part of the questionnaire that Ukraine had filled out to become a candidate for EU membership…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed cooperation and Kiev’s European integration.

Speaking after the talks, which took place in Kiev on Thursday ahead of the Ukraine-European Union summit, Zelensky said the visit of von der Leyen and other EU officials to Ukraine marks an important milestone in Ukraine’s European integration.

Zelensky said that he received a report from von der Leyen on the second part of the questionnaire that Ukraine had filled out to become a candidate for EU membership.

“This is good news. This report will become the basis for the work of our government,” he said.

At their meeting, Zelensky and von der Leyen talked about trade liberalisation between Ukraine and the EU, financial cooperation, and energy security.

The two sides also touched upon the issues of Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction and new sanctions against Russia.

The Ukraine-EU summit, scheduled to take place in Kiev on Friday, will discuss economic, financial, social, energy and humanitarian issues.

Preparations for the next phase of Ukraine’s integration with the EU will also be a topic of the summit, according to the presidential press service.

In June 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc.

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‘I count on India’s participation in peace formula’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Glasgow, Scotland on November 02, 2021. (PIB)

The statement said Russia “illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council”, since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the phone call sought India’s help in the implementation of a peace formula with Russia.

“I had a phone call with PM Modi & wished him a successful G20 presidency. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India’s participation in its implementation. I also thanked for humanitarian aid and support in the UN,” tweeted the Ukrainian President. In October, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv will not conduct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reacting to the referendum in four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Zelenskyy noted that all the aggressor’s decisions aimed at attempting illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories are null and void and do not change reality.

Zelenskyy emphasised that under such conditions, Ukraine will not conduct any negotiations with the current President of the Russian Federation, and noted that our state has always been committed to a peaceful settlement through dialogue, said a Zelenskyy readout.

“However, Russia did not stand for dialogue and put forward an ultimatum instead, deliberately undermining this process. During my speech at the session of the UN General Assembly, I outlined our clear formula for peace. We are ready to work together with our partners to achieve it,” added the President of Ukraine.

Earlier on Monday, Ukraine called for Russia to be removed from the United Nations, where Moscow can veto any resolution as a permanent member of the Security Council.

“Ukraine calls on the member states of the UN… to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN as a whole,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement said Russia “illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council”, since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Meanwhile, three Russian servicemen were killed on Monday after a Ukrainian drone was shot down by air defenses as it approached a military airfield in Saratov Oblast, deep inside Russian territory, according to Russian state news agencies, citing the defense ministry.

The incident took place in the western port city of Engels, some 500 miles (more than 800 kilometers) southeast of Moscow, located on the Volga River. It is the second such attempted attack on the city, which houses the Engels-2 military airfield, a strategic bomber airbase, this month, reported CNN.

Earlier this month, CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion lighting up the sky in Engels. At the time, Gov. Busargin also reassured residents that no civilian infrastructure was damaged and that “information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies.”  (ANI)

ALSO READ-Ukraine seeks ‘peace summit’ with Russia

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Zelensky calls for meeting with Putin to end war

Zelensky denounced plans by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before Kyiv…reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to “put an end to the war”.

“I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it,” he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital.

He was “not afraid to meet” Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, he added.

“From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president,” said Zelensky.

“It’s not that I want (to meet him), it’s that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means. We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia,” he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv Sunday, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would also visit, he told reporters. It will be the first official visit by US government officials since the February 24 invasion.

A US State Department official declined to comment.

Zelensky denounced plans by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before Kyiv.

“It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,” he said. “There is no justice and no logic in this order.”

Zelensky repeated his warning that they would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.

“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organised in the (southern) region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” he said.

He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a horrible situation, surrounded”.

Ukrainian officials earlier Saturday accused Russia of thwarting a fresh attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol.

ALSO READ-UN chief set to meet Zelensky, Putin

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Johnson meets Zelensky in Kiev

Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture supplied by the Ukrainian government.

This visit comes as the Johnson government has announced defensive aid to Ukraine with a new £100m package, reports Asian Lite News

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday.

Johnson said that he has travelled to Ukraine to meet President Zelenskyy in person and show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

“Today I met my friend President @ZelenskyyUa in Kyiv as a show of our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine. We’re setting out a new package of financial & military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country’s struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign,” Johnson tweeted.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Keiv, Ukraine. Picture supplied by the Ukrainian government.

The Embassy of Ukraine to the United Kingdom tweeted a picture of Boris Johnson sitting alongside Zelenskyy in an office. This visit comes as the Johnson government has announced defensive aid to Ukraine with a new £100m package.

The new support will include: more NLAW anti-tank missiles, additional Javelin anti-tank systems, additional loitering munitions, additional Starstreak air defence systems, and additional non-lethal aid including ballistic helmets, body armour and night-vision goggles.

This package amounts to more than £100 million and has been designed in consultation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine to ensure that it meets their military needs. This builds on the £350 million of military aid and around £400m of economic and humanitarian support that the UK has already provided.

As well as providing bilateral lethal aid, the UK Armed Forces – alongside Polish, US and international partners – have established an International Donor Coordination Centre in Stuttgart.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Keiv, Ukraine. Picture supplied by the Ukrainian government.

This plays a leading role in the international effort and ensures that the military aid delivered to Ukraine is as coordinated and effective as possible. The team from 104 Logistics Brigade was established following the first International Donor Conference convened by the Defence Secretary in February.

UK Prime Minister: “Putin has steeled our resolve, sharpened our focus and forced Europe to begin to rearm to guarantee our shared security.” (ANI)

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UAE supports every move towards peace: MBZ

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,

Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE supports every move aimed at a peaceful settlement of the crisis, and was keen to provide assistance to affected civilians in Ukraine, reports Asian Lite Newdesk

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Friday held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and discussed the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Sheikh Mohamed was briefed by the Ukrainian President on the latest developments and stressed the importance of finding peaceful solutions through negotiation, dialogue and understanding.

“Had a conversation with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed. Informed about the counteraction to the ongoing Russian aggression. Some topical issues of cooperation were discussed. The support of partners is important,” Zelenskyy tweeted after the conversation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.(Photo_Twitter@ZelenskyyUa)

Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE supports every move aimed at a peaceful settlement of the crisis, and was keen to provide assistance to affected civilians in Ukraine, based on its longstanding humanitarian approach.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed stressed the importance of continuous and serious communication to find a political solution to the crisis that ensures the interests of all parties and safeguards their security.

‘N-plant situation concerning’

UAE, who is holding the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March, expressed its concerns on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, especially the recent events at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which had previously been taken under the control of the Russian military.

UAE stressed that the council must make “every possible effort to avoid a nuclear disaster, whether from direct attack on a nuclear facility or as an unintended consequence of conflict.”

It said the humanitarian and environmental catastrophe resulting from a serious nuclear incident would be hard to contain and recovery would be difficult.

UAE urged all relevant parties involved to cooperate with the IAEA to ensure and protect the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and to establish a stable framework on the ground.

Photo taken on March 1, 2022 shows armed personnel in Donetsk. (Photo by (Victor_Xinhua_IANS)

“The parties therefore must ensure the safety of the plant as well as its reactors. They must also ensure that the plant and the surrounding area are not a target and remain protected from conflict, as damage to the plant could lead to dire consequences for the entire region,” said Lana Nusseibeh, UAE Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN.
She said nuclear safety is a critical issue for the UAE.

“Our participation on the IAEA’s Board of Governors is a recognition of that concern, and we will continue to make every possible effort to promote and maintain nuclear safety, and support the Director-General of the IAEA’s proposal for negotiations between the parties around this matter, and the implementation of agreed protocols. We also welcome the 2nd round of bilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia yesterday,” she added.

Recently, the UAE had voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution on the situation in Ukraine.

Lana Nusseibeh, UAE Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN

On this, Lana Nusseibeh stated, “We voted for this resolution, and we join the Member States in appealing to peace. A just peace that endures by recognising all parties’ legitimate concerns and abides by the UN Charter’s principles of independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
Nusseibeh added that resolving the conflict will require dialogue and effective diplomacy.

On 1st March, the UAE announced a US$5 million contribution to the UN’s Humanitarian Flash Appeal and the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Ukraine. The assistance will benefit all civilians impacted by the ongoing hostilities. It also reflects the UAE’s deep commitment to humanitarian solidarity – ensuring the protection of civilians, unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies and actors, and safe passage for anyone seeking to leave the country without discrimination or obstacles.

ALSO READ: Mohammed bin Zayed, Putin discuss Ukraine crisis and energy market developments