An expert survey, titled “100 days of President Volodymyr Zelensky,” conducted from August 19 to August 26 by Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation Fund was presented in Kyiv on Wednesday. Some 51 experts were included in the study. They said Zelensky’s main success in the first 100 days was the dissolution of the parliament and the further success of the Servant of the People Party in early parliamentary elections, which allowed the formation of a one-party majority.
Experts also noted the president’s foreign policy efforts: first foreign trips, establishing contacts with leaders of the EU countries, Canada, a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Among the successes, Zelensky’s initiatives on the peace process in Donbas are also mentioned, along with activation of the Minsk process, efforts to conduct negotiations in the “Normandy format,” the issue of prisoner exchange.
To the president’s failures, experts attribute individual staff appointments and appointments to government posts on the basis of personal acquaintance and loyalty, rather than professionalism. The same applies to the inclusion of people with an ambiguous reputation in the Servant of the People Party list.
Experts also note foreign policy failures – in particular, the lack of efforts to counteract the return of Russia to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the lack of initiative to tighten sanctions against Russia for not fulfilling the decision to release Ukrainian sailors and issuing passports in occupied Donbas.
Zelensky’s style of behavior during public meetings in the regions and the ineffectiveness of the ceasefire in Donbas was already regarded as a failure.
Experts believe that Zelensky’s main task is to confront Russian aggression by all diplomatic methods, including strengthening sanctions against Russia, preserving the “anti-Putin” coalition for the liberation of Donbas and Crimea, as well as Ukrainian political prisoners and captives.
For comparison, experts gave President Petro Poroshenko 6.3 points for his first 100 days, with his predecessor Viktor Yanukovych receiving 2.7 points. Yanukovych fled to Russia in early 2014.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that it is impossible to understand the executions of Jews, Ukrainians, Roma and other victims of Babyn Yar, to forget and forgive this crime, and its repetition cannot be allowed.
“It is impossible to understand the inhuman desire to destroy people on ethnic, national or political grounds, regardless of gender and age. Before our eyes there is a terrible endless queue of people who did not understand that they were being led to death,” he said, speaking on Monday at a ceremony of reverence to victims of Babyn Yar with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Zelensky noted that most of those killed in Babyn Yar were of Jewish nationality, but “having shot all the Jews they could find, the Nazis began to get rid of other prisoners: Roma, Ukrainians who were fighting for their state.”
“The totalitarian Soviet regime tabooed such topics as the Holocaust, Babyn Yar, the Holodomor, and hid the real scale of these crimes,” he said.
Zelensky noted that, according to various sources, during the period of the Nazi occupation from 70,000 to 200,000 people were shot in Babyn Yar.
“It is impossible to forget and forgive, and the Ukrainian people will always remember these crimes against humanity. We will never forget what xenophobia and racism lead to. The ideology of intolerance and violence deprives of the most precious and valuable thing – human life,” said the president of Ukraine.
Zelensky called on the international community to join forces to prevent manifestations of anti-Semitism and intolerance on racial or national grounds.
“We must not allow it again! Eternal memory to the victims of the Babyn Yar, eternal memory to the victims of the Second World War,” said the president of Ukraine.
There are no specific plans for a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, as of yet, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Tuesday. “There are more questions than answers. There are no plans concerning a possible meeting with President Zelensky as of yet,” Peskov said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold an official meeting in Kyiv on August 19 and sign Ukrainian-Israeli documents, the press service of the head of Ukrainian state has reported. The meeting at the Mariyinsky Palace will begin at 10:30, after which a document signing ceremony will take place at 12:45.
Statements by Zelensky and Netanyahu for the media are scheduled at 13:00.
In addition, at 15:20, the president of Ukraine and the premier of Israel will take part in events to pay tribute to the victims of the Babyn Yar tragedy.
Founder and head of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce (New York) Duvi Honig has called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take measures to clean up corruption among local officials in Uman, Cherkasy region and in so doing resurrect the city as one of the largest Jewish spiritual centers. Honig said during a press conference at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Friday that for more than 10 years the Jewish religious community of the Bratslav Hasidim has been fighting for the right to build a Jewish memorial complex in Uman. He said a synagogue with a capacity of 30,000 is also planned.
He said in 2008, a one-hectare land plot was leased for 49 years to the community for the construction of the facility. A detailed plan of the territory allocated for the construction of the center was then developed. However, he said local authorities began to demand a bribe for approving the construction plan of the complex.
Honig said after the refusal to give a bribe, the purpose of the land on which the construction was supposed to be was changed.
“I would like to thank President Volodymyr Zelensky for saying that he wants to build little Jerusalem out of Uman, that he wants to stop corruption in Ukraine. I came to Uman and looked at what was happening there, sorted out the mayor, deputy mayor, created a committee or commission if necessary to monitor the situation […] how the purpose of the site was changed, because now the construction site has been stolen,” Honig said.
According to him, currently there are no opportunities for the construction of the memorial complex.
“In fact, there may be a good wave of investments that can help Uman and Ukraine prosper. […] But this may not happen precisely because of corruption,” he said.
As reported, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Kyiv on August 18-20. He is expected to meet with Zelensky during his trip.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Turkish businesses to invest in projects in Ukraine, including in rebuilding infrastructure in its east, Donbas.
“I am pleased to invite Turkish businesses to visit us in Ukraine. I personally act as a guarantor of your comfortable work in Ukraine. Let’s grow together,” he said at a joint press conference following talks with President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday evening.
Zelensky also said that he had invited the Turkish side to take part in rebuilding infrastructure facilities in eastern Ukraine.
“We expect the Turkish side to actively participate in an international forum for the restoration of Donbas, which we plan to hold in Mariupol this autumn,” he said.
By the end of the year, Kyiv will host the next, 8th meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish high-level strategic council, he added.
