President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Sweden to take part in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
“I am sure that together we will be able to ensure peace, and therefore we need to think about the restoration of Ukraine after this war right now. And it will happen. I invite Swedish architects, Swedish companies, the Swedish state, your people to take part in this historical project. Ukraine was beautiful, and now it will become great, because such is our people,” Zelensky said, speaking to the Swedish Parliament on Thursday.
“I invite you to demonstrate to the world, to all modern and future generations, that war does not give results, but peace does. And life,” he said.
According to him, Sweden became the first state to which Ukraine offered a “big restoration project.”
“You can take patronage over any city of Ukraine, region or industry for their restoration. I am sure that your leadership will be indispensable. Your technologies, business and love of life, the ability to organize space are in the interests of people,” the president said.
About 90% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Donbas are ready to take part in Ukraine’s presidential elections, Head of the All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas, Head of the Public Council under the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs Henandiy Borisichev has said.
“We travel a lot around the country and hold many meetings with IDPs. At the end of each meeting we take a so-called sociological poll, based on the results of our meetings, I can say that about 90% of IDPs plan to take part in the elections,” he said at a press conference held at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday.
Borisichev said about 80-90% of IDPs have already received absentee ballots for voting in the presidential elections in Ukraine.
“Finally, our countrymen have realized that if they do not engage in politics, politics will deal with them, as happened in 2014,” he said.
Borisichev said the all-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas intends ask the top ten presidential candidates to sign on to a public statement pledging to help solve problems faced by IDPs.
The document will set out the candidate’s obligations regarding the support and funding of state programs for providing housing for IDPs, renewing the rights of pensioners from Donbas to pay Ukrainian pensions, ensuring the right of IDPs to take part in local elections, developing and implementing a comprehensive plan for restoring peace in Donbas and the development and adoption of a special law on compensation for victims of the war in Ukraine.
DONBAS, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, TAKE PART
