President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky plans to visit the Lithuanian capital in 2021 to participate in a conference on reforms in Ukraine, said Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine. “We hope that the conference will take place this year. The Ukrainian government and the President’s Office are already working on this. The head of state will be happy to come to Lithuania to discuss progress in Ukrainian reforms and support for Ukraine from European partners,” the President’s Office on Tuesday quoted Zhovkva as saying who gave an interview to the Lithuanian branch of the leading news agency in the Baltic region, Baltic News Service (BNS).
He also noted that currently “preparations are underway for the fourth conference on reforms in Ukraine, which was postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
According to Zhovkva, “over the past year and a half, Ukraine has shown significant progress in reforms, in particular, recently the President of the European Council Charles Michel noted the efforts of Volodymyr Zelensky in judicial and banking reforms, as well as in the agro-industrial sector.
“We count on a fair assessment of the process. And we count on help to Ukraine to continue this path of reforms,” Zhovkva stressed.
The Deputy Head of the President’s Office also focused on the process of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
He recalled that Ukraine received the status of a NATO partner with expanded capabilities and is raising the issue of providing an action plan for membership in the Alliance.
“We understand that we have to do our homework, including reforms in the security and military sector of Ukraine. We are working on this,” Zhovkva said.
He also assured that now work is underway to deepen Ukraine’s integration with the European Union.
“Much depends on Ukraine, but not everything. We will work on our ‘homework’, but we really count on the support of Brussels and the EU member states. And here, by the way, the role of Lithuania is very important, because I hope that Lithuania has unanimous support for Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO, “said the deputy head of the President’s Office.
He added that the Republic of Lithuania is not just a strategic partner for Ukraine, but a “strategic friend and brother”, and both countries have great potential for cooperation.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19), the head of state said on his Instagram page.
“Doctors and military personnel are already being vaccinated. I urge all others to join the Diia queue. There is nothing to be afraid of, I am setting my own example,” the president said on Tuesday.
On Twitter, Zelensky said that he was vaccinated on the front line with Ukrainian soldiers as commander-in-chief.
“The same Oxford/AstraZeneca (Covishield) from India, which was delivered first to Ukraine, and which received millions of people around the world. The vaccine will allow us to live again without restrictions,” he said.
President of the European Council Charles Michel started his visit to Ukraine on Tuesday morning, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said.
“The President of the European Council has landed in Kharkiv. Two days in Ukraine: visiting the line of contact, honouring the memory of the victims of Maidan, seeing EU COVID-assistance in practice, discussions with [Volodymyr] Zelensky on reforms and association, participation in Ukraine 30 forum on judicial reform,” Maasikas said on Twitter on Tuesday.
President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen recalled the difficulties with the launch of the production of vaccines against COVID-19.
“We all underestimated the difficulty for the industry of ramping up a complex mass vaccine production programme from nothing. I wish I had known that last autumn. I would still have been very pleased about the researchers coming up with the vaccine so much faster than predicted, but I would have warned that it could take several more months before it was available in large quantities,” she said in an interview with Die Zeit on Thursday.
Von der Leyen noted that delays in the terms of vaccinations are due to the EU’s careful approach to the vaccine registration process.
She stressed that at first, manufacturers could not fulfill large orders that were formed by different countries.
“Larger initial orders would have been impossible to honour – even if we had paid out billions extra for this. The current bottlenecks are due to the fact that producing a vaccine is extremely complicated and the start is often shaky. There is a limited supply of raw materials, supply chains for the completely new mRNA technology need to be established and, in addition, demand for these substances from all corners of the globe is extremely high,” Von der Leyen said.
She recalled that in early January, European countries faced a shortage of vaccines, so they increased their orders.
As reported, Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov left for to India to conduct direct negotiations with manufacturers on additional volumes of Oxford/AstraZeneca and NovaVax vaccines in 2021-2022 to the already contracted 12 million doses.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has invited American businessman, founder of the space company SpaceX Elon Musk to visit the Serhiy Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics, located in Zhytomyr.
“Today is the birthday of the great Ukrainian scientist, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer – Serhiy Korolyov. Indeed, he was one of the very best. I’d like to invite his longtime fan Elon Musk to Ukraine, to see The Serhiy Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter, commenting on Musk’s message about communicating with Korolyov’s family.
Museum of Cosmonautics named after Korolyov was opened in Zhytomyr in 1970 in the house where the designer spent his childhood. The exhibition presents personal belongings and documents of the Korolyov family, including those provided to the museum by the designer’s mother, wife and daughter, as well as his friends and colleagues.
In 1991, the second part of the museum was opened – the “Cosmos” exposition moved to a special building, which presents a collection of samples of space technology, equipment for cosmonauts, the descent vehicle of the Soyuz-27 spacecraft, an exhibition sample of the Soyuz spacecraft, models of life-size spacecraft and nine milligrams of lunar soil.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said his retest for coronavirus (COVID-19) has so far been positive, and he continues to remain in self-isolation.
“My retest, unfortunately, is still positive, but I continue to work every day. This is my job. The only difference is that I work not on Bankova Street, but on Academician Zabolotny Street [where the Feofaniya clinical hospital is located],” he said in his blog on Wednesday.
Zelensky said he feels better. “The smells are back today. Strength is returning. The temperature is dropping. The desire to return to live work is rising,” he said.
Zelensky expressed the hope that the next video will be recorded from outside the hospital.
