Citizens of Ukraine can visit 42 world countries amid coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic without any conditions or if certain requirements are met, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“There were 38 such countries last week. During this time, their number has increased by four counties,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.
In particular, according to the minister, Armenia has joined this list, where it is possible to arrive subject to 14 days of self-isolation. The list also includes three other less popular countries among Ukrainians: Burkina Faso, Togo (Republique Togolaise) and Chad.
As reported, earlier Kuleba named 38 countries where Ukrainians can enter: Turkey, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Belarus, Great Britain, USA, Mexico, Egypt, Tunisia, Republic of Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Seychelles, Bahamas and Lebanon, Bulgaria, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Maldives, Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador, Jamaica, Cambodia, Comoros, Pakistan, Puerto Rico and Saint Lucia.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said that, as soon as it becomes possible, she will pay a visit to Ukraine, as an earlier visit was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am prepared as soon as the time is right to pay a visit, which has long been postponed over COVID-19 and not only because of it. I will try to restore our relations on a basis that matches the traditionally friendly ties between our two countries,” Zourabichvili said at a press conference in Tbilisi on Friday.
Georgia and Ukraine are bound by a course toward integration into NATO and the European Union and by joint projects in the Black Sea with their European partners, and any attempts to weaken this partnership would negatively affect the European integration of both countries, she said.
At the same time, Zourabichvili mentioned recent remarks by Mikheil Saakashvili, a former Georgian president who currently serves as the head of the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reform Council, who has said he does not recognize the incumbent Georgian government as legitimate.
“A provocative tone addressed to the Georgian government by a foreign citizen working for a foreign government harms our bilateral relations,” Zourabichvili said.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador from Kyiv in May, after Saakashvili was appointed head of the National Reform Council’s Executive Committee.
Tbilisi interpreted Saakashvili’s negative remarks about the Georgian government as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba will pay a visit to Turkey on July 3-4 to participate in the 8th meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish Joint Strategic Planning Group along with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. During the meeting, the parties will sum up the results of cooperation in the first half of 2020 and set priority tasks until the end of the year.
According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, the ministers will also discuss a wide range of issues related to mutual cooperation and regional security.
“Special attention will be focused on the militarization of Crimea, violation of human rights on the peninsula by the Russia-occupation authorities, the situation with security in the Azov and Black Sea region and in the Middle East, resistance to Russia’s aggression in Donbas and initiatives aimed at peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” the ministry said.
The ministers will also discuss the development of trade and investment between Ukraine and Turkey, deepening of cooperation in the spheres of energy, security and defense, the prospects of the completion of the negotiation process on the Free Trade Agreement, cooperation within the UN, NATO, OSCE and the Council of Europe. The officials will also discuss the preparations for the 9th meeting of the High Level Strategic Council chaired by the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey.
The ministers will give a joint press conference on the results of the meeting.
Kuleba will also hold a separate meeting between Ukrainian businesspeople and Turkish entrepreneurs, who are ready to invest in Ukraine.
He will also meet with representatives of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities in Turkey, the ministry said.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Azerbaijan have agreed to prepare for the official visit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Ukraine before the end of 2020, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said.
“On June 17, another round of political consultations took place at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and the Republic of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov in the form of a videoconference, during which further cooperation was comprehensively discussed, including on supporting the territorial integrity of both states and certain aspects of the policy regarding the occupied territories,” the ministry said in a statement.
Thus, the diplomats emphasized the importance of maintaining the existing dynamics of political dialogue and agreed to concentrate efforts on preparing the official visit of Azerbaijani President Aliyev to Ukraine before the end of 2020.
“I’m sure that the official visit of the Azerbaijani leader to Ukraine will be a significant impetus for strengthening strategic partnerships and will allow serious advancing implementation of joint projects,” Bodnar said.
The parties agreed to intensify the work of ministries and departments to prepare joint initiatives, programs and documents, as well as hold meetings of bilateral working bodies.
Among other things, the parties discussed practical steps to implement projects in the political, trade, economic, energy, transport, cultural, humanitarian and military-technical fields.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was certain he will visit the White House and meet United States President Donald Trump, and has invited him to Kyiv.
“I am sure it will happen. The last time I met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, we talked about it, and said that I would very much want my visit to America to be something special for the two countries. With some very important result for the two countries. Something beneficial for the two countries,” Zelensky said during the 56th Munich Security Conference on Saturday, when asked if he had a specific date for the White House visit.
The president said he wanted to re-start the relations with the U.S. “with a clean slate.”
“After all this Santa Barbara…about the impeachment…I want to come and start our relations with a clean slate, so that we agree and sign some contracts, agree strategic things, investment things. Let’s prepare a package of such documents and meet. So now the ball on the U.S. president’s court, but we are always happy to see them all in Ukraine. So I am ready to invite, and I am inviting, President Trump to Kyiv.”
He also commented on the blocking of U.S. military aid.
“We needed that aid, we needed a tactical win in this story, without the souring of our relations with the U.S. So, tactically is how I am thinking about Ukraine. Always. And, honestly, I’ll tell you this: sometimes I reply not how I want to, but in the way necessary for Ukraine. So, my body, my brain, my eyes belong to the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska have been granted an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City State on Saturday, during which Zelensky invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine in order to see the situation in Donbas, according to the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
During the meeting, the head of state said that the Holy See could play an important role in bringing peace to Ukraine.
“The main thing we talked about is peace. He [Pope Francis] even called me “president of peace” – this is my image in Europe now,” Zelensky said after the audience.
He also noted that His Holiness Pope Francis is very much welcome in Ukraine, where he enjoys extremely high support and trust.
“I invited him to Ukraine. I am sure he will visit Ukraine – not only its capital. I said that one should visit eastern Ukraine in order to fully understand what is going on there,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky and Pope Francis also discussed humanitarian initiatives to help children and protect the environment.
“I am extremely grateful to His Holiness for the “Pope for Ukraine” initiative, which helped 900,000 war-stricken Ukrainians in Donbas,” Zelensky said.
