…President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that the government understands all the risks, but believes that there is too much information in the information space regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I believe that at present there is too much information in the information space regarding a deep, full-scale war on the part of the Russian Federation. They even name the appropriate dates,” he said in Kherson region on Saturday.
“We understand all the risks, we understand that these risks exist,” he added.
Zelensky expressed his conviction that Ukraine should rely primarily on itself. “Count on your military and your citizens,” he said.
“And if you or anyone else has any additional information regarding a 100 percent invasion, give us this information,” the president said, addressing reporters.
Answering a journalist’s question about whether he believes in the possibility of a Russian invasion, the president notes that the dissemination of information about a possible invasion by the Russian Federation provokes panic in Ukrainian society, which plays into the hands of the enemy.
“It may happen any day, as I said earlier. From the very beginning, we did not believe in it, from the very beginning of the war in the east of our country in 2014. That is why I have to analyze all the information that we have. We have a lot of information, because we are on these borders, these are our borders, this is our territory. I have to address our people as president and tell people the truth, and the truth is that we have different information. And now the best friend for enemies is panic in our country. And all this information only provokes panic and does not help us,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky watched special exercises of the Interior Ministry units on the border with the temporarily occupied Crimea on Saturday in Kherson region.
On Friday, February 11, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky began a two-day working trip to Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
According to the President’s Office, in Kharkiv, the head of state will take part in the work of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, as well as hold an off-site meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
“Following the meeting, a briefing by the NSDC Secretary is expected,” the report said.
In Kherson region, Zelensky will be shown the actions of units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the development of measures to vacate administrative buildings.
Until 2030, Ukraine will increase the harvest and production of the main types of agricultural raw materials, which will allow the country to consolidate the status of a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, while a reduction is expected in production of sugar, milk and beef, the Ukrainian Agriculture Export Association (UAEA) reported.
As the UAEA told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday, the relevant data are contained in a joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which compares the average annual production of the main types of agricultural products for 2018-2022 with projections in 2030.
Thus, the growth of the corn crop in Ukraine is projected from 33.99 million tonnes to 44.01 million tonnes (29.4% more), wheat – from 26.01 million tonnes to 35.86 million tonnes (37.8% more), and oilseeds – from 22.04 million tonnes to 26.29 million tonnes (19.3% more).
During the specified period, an increase in production of vegetable oil is also expected from 6.88 million tonnes to 8.4 million tonnes (22.1% more), poultry meat – from 1.15 million tonnes to 1.54 million tonnes (33.9% more), pork – from 0.71 million tonnes to 0.82 million tonnes (15.5% more), and fish and seafood – from 99,000 tonnes to 101,000 tonnes (2% more).
At the same time, Ukraine is projected to reduce milk production from 9.82 million tonnes to 8.93 million tonnes (9.1% less), sugar – from 1.38 million tonnes to 1.24 million tonnes (10.1% less) and beef – from 0.37 million tonnes to 0.33 million tonnes (10.8% less).
“The current forecasts of international organizations almost always consider Ukraine as a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, that is, our status as a supplier of raw materials to the world market will be strengthened,” the association summed up.
President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the invitation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, has arrived in Kyiv to attend the tenth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council.
“We are in Kyiv at the invitation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the tenth meeting of the High Level Strategic Council. I hope that the meetings will lead to favorable results for both the countries and the region,” Erdoğan said on Twitter on Thursday.
He said that in recent years, Turkey has made significant progress in relations with Ukraine in trade, investment, tourism and defense industry.
“We are striving to achieve our goal of $10 billion in trade volume. We will soon achieve this goal due to the Free Trade Agreement that we will sign,” the Turkish president said.
According to him, Turkey is closely following “the challenges faced by Ukraine, and tensions in the region.” Thus, he called on all sides to dialogue to maintain peace in the region.
“It is clear that the conflict must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. Turkey is ready to contribute to maintaining peace and security in its region,” he said.
On Monday, January 31, the President’s Office will host a meeting of the delegations of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland with the participation of representatives of a number of ministries and departments of the two countries, the press service of the President of Ukraine reports.
“The Polish delegation arrived in our state in fulfillment of the agreements reached during the visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the Republic of Poland on January 20-21, 2022,” the message says.
The Ukrainian delegation at the talks will be headed by Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak, the delegation of Poland – by Secretary of State of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, head of the Bureau for International Policy Jakub Kumoch.
In addition, the negotiations, in particular, will be attended by Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov and Minister of Infrastructure of Poland Andrzej Adamczyk.
“During the meeting, topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the economy, energy and infrastructure will be discussed,” the President’s Office said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked businessman Richard Branson and representatives of world business for supporting the Ukrainian state.
“Grateful to Richard Branson and the global business community for supporting Ukraine. Innovative businessmen best understand the key vectors of human development. Hence, their call to unite and defend Ukraine’s sovereignty, in particular, by imposing sanctions on the aggressor, is crucial,” Zelensky said on Twitter last week.
A day earlier, Branson said that in Twitter that “for business leaders, this is the moment to come together and stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty,” and also published a link to his article “My thoughts on Ukraine and Russia” in which he repeated this thesis. “For business leaders, this is the moment to come together and stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Even if it comes at a price, all of us should send a clear message that unilateral aggression is always unacceptable and that the global business community will support the full range of sanctions against any nation that seeks to violate the sovereignty of another,” he said.
The businessman also said in the article that “Business leaders all over the world have been watching the build-up of Russian troops and equipment at the Ukrainian border with great concern” and that any war between Russia and Ukraine will have devastating and terrible consequences, primarily for the civilian population on both sides, and further isolates Russia.
“But never in recent years has there been a greater risk of an all-out war on European soil – a war that, like so many before it, does not serve a just or legitimate objective. (It is hard for any of us to hide our exasperation at this point. In 2022, what on earth is one country doing amassing tanks at another country’s borders?” Branson said.
