President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants the end of the war with Russia and spoke in favor of a diplomatic way to end it.
“I want to stop the war and end it. There is a diplomatic path, there is a military one. Any healthy person always chooses the diplomatic path, because he knows: even if it is difficult, it can stop the loss of thousands, tens of thousands, and with such neighbors hundreds of thousands, and maybe even millions of victims. I don’t want this. And any leader, whether he personally wants it or not, has no right to subjectively cancel the diplomatic path,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.
The World Bank will provide Ukraine with $4.8 billion for recovery following a roundtable talk held in Washington on April 21 along with the Ukrainian government, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“Yesterday, during a ministerial roundtable talk, I turned to the World Bank. The result is $4.8 billion for the restoration of Ukraine,” the head of state said on Instagram.
He thanked that Ukraine “is heard and supported.”
“With such help, we will be able to quickly restore the country,” Zelensky said.
As reported, the president of Ukraine, in his speech at this roundtable talk via video link, said the country needs support in the amount of up to $7 billion monthly, while Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that $4 billion to $5 billion is needed to cover the budget deficit.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced a state program for the construction of housing for those who lost it as a result of the occupation, as well as for the military, law enforcement officers, teachers and other public sector employees.
“At the first stage, temporary housing should be provided to displaced persons, those whose houses were destroyed by the war. Temporary – until we restore their housing. Or until people are compensated in square meters or money,” he said in a traditional video message on Saturday evening.
According to the president, at the second stage, “we are restoring what the occupiers tried to destroy – all the cities, communities that suffered.” “And at the third stage, we will provide housing for everyone who defended our state, who worked or is working in the interests of society, but did not have their own housing. It cannot be that a person gives everything, his life to military service, and retires without having his own apartment,” Zelensky said.
“I believe that we will be able not only to restore what was destroyed, but also to restore justice for those whose right to housing has been violated,” he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a conversation with Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson.
“I spoke with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. He spoke about the critical situation in Mariupol. We discussed defense support for Ukraine, strengthening anti-Russian sanctions. I thanked for supporting Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the results of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ORF reports citing the Austrian Federal Chancellery.
According to the channel, Nehammer told Zelensky that the meeting was not a “friendly visit.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to the Lithuanian parliamentarians, said that some countries of the European Union still, while the war is unfolding in Ukraine, cannot decide on the timing when they will limit the use of Russian energy resources.
“The European Union is discussing the sixth package of sanctions against Russia for a war not seen since the Second World War. And it is still unknown whether oil will be under sanctions. Even after seeing the massacres in Bucha and other cities. Even knowing about the deportation of people, even watching deliberate destruction of peaceful cities by Russian missiles and air bombs, some EU countries cannot decide when they will, at least in essence, limit the purchase of Russian energy resources,” Zelensky said.
According to him, hundreds of European companies and banks not only still have not refused to work on the Russian market, but also demonstrate frank disrespect in response to the demand to stop financing the Russian military machine through taxes.
“And all this is happening right now, when the blood is still fresh. What this shows is that if only the sixth sanctions package began to seriously discuss oil, it means that the world does not understand what kind of war Russia was preparing for. If there is still no clear certainty on Russian gas, therefore, there can be no certainty that Europe has a common will to stop Russian war crimes, to force Russia into peace.If there are big European companies and big European banks that, even in the midst of hostilities in Ukraine, do not consider it necessary exit the Russian market, this means that all other companies take it as a signal: wait a bit, and then you can work as usual, even if nothing, in essence, changes in the behavior of Russia,” the president added.
