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Ukrainian president defends his impending government crisis: “We need new energy”
September 4 () –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that only the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France can lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons imposed on them to respond to Russian attacks. “It depends on them, not on other friendly countries,” he said.
“With all due respect to each country (…) we need permission to use long-range weapons from those who give them to us. It depends on them, not on other friends. It depends on the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany,” he said at a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, on an official visit to kyiv.
“We are losing people every day. And our power to solve these problems depends on these four states,” Zelensky said, recalling the recent attacks by Russian forces on kyiv and Poltava, as well as those on Wednesday in Lviv and Krivoy Rog.
Zelensky has highlighted this issue while pointing out that while Ukraine has to deal with this problem, Russia continues to produce weapons despite international sanctions, thanks to the actions of other countries. “The Russian state creates various schemes to circumvent sanctions,” he lamented.
“All this can only be stopped through strong and timely joint work of all countries that value a normal, rules-based world order and want peace,” Zelensky said after signing the cooperation agreement with Ireland.
The agreement provides for Ireland’s commitment to Ukraine over the next ten years and provides for the delivery of up to €170 million for security, humanitarian and infrastructure initiatives before the end of 2024.
Since the start of the Russian invasion, Ireland has already allocated 380 million euros in various packages and has so far welcomed 109,000 Ukrainians. “This is approximately 2 percent of our population,” said Prime Minister Harris.
GOVERNMENT CRISIS
Zelensky also answered questions about the imminent government crisis he is preparing, which has already resulted in four confirmed exits and a fifth awaiting approval from Parliament, that of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitro Kuleba, one of the most well-known faces of the conflict.
“I am very grateful to the ministers and the entire cabinet who have worked for Ukraine for four, even five years, but today we need new energy,” stressed Zelensky, who had justified the changes in the run-up to the meeting due to the major challenges of the coming years, such as joining NATO and the EU.
“This decision is related to strengthening our state in several areas, and international politics and diplomacy are no exception,” the Ukrainian president stressed.
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