President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he is counting on Turkey, in particular, for security guarantees, taking into account its possible military contingent, as he informed his European partners.
“If we are talking about security guarantees, I told my partners: in my opinion, we have to count on Turkey, on the Turkish president. Why? Because it is very important who will be ready to give real numbers of the contingent – real people, military vessels,” Zelensky said at a press conference on Sunday.
He added: “With all due respect to everyone… we will have to think about certain logistical steps to understand who will be sitting at the negotiating table.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the UAE and Saudi Arabia, but he will not meet with the Russians or the Americans.
“I have an official visit to the Emirates with my wife, the first lady, because we have a large humanitarian program, and the issue of prisoner exchange. Secondly, after that, I will visit Saudi Arabia with the same issues and another partnership with His Royal Highness. It will be for two or three days. I will have three meetings with President Erdogan in Turkey. I will not meet with the Russians, but I will not meet with the Americans there either,” Zelenskyy told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.
Ukraine has mineral resources, but “this does not mean that we give them away to anyone, even to strategic partners,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
“We have mineral resources. This does not mean that we give them away to anyone, even to strategic partners. It is about partnership. Invest money. Invest. Let’s develop this together and make money. And the main thing is the security of the Western world, the European continent. That all this will not go to these thieves – Russia plus their allies,” Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters, which was posted on the telegram channel.
According to the president, Russia has seized less than 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources.
“If we assume that about 20% of our land has been seized, they certainly have not seized 20% of our mineral resources. So far, it is less,” the President said.
At the same time, he emphasized that the rest of Ukraine’s resources are in dire need of protection: “We need to stop Putin and protect what we have.”
“A lot in Dnipro region, a lot in central Ukraine and in the west. Unfortunately, we lost coal, but I know that they also lost a lot there, because they did not know what to do with the mines, they flooded many of them,” Zelensky added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed ambassadors to the Republic of Moldova and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.
The relevant decrees No. 77/2025 and No. 78/2025 were published on the President’s website.
Thus, Paun Rogovei was appointed Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Moldova.
At the same time, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Argentine Republic Yurii Klymenko was appointed ambassador to the Eastern Republic of Uruguay with concurrent appointment.
In addition, the President appointed Ambassador to Hungary Fedir Shandor as Ukraine’s representative to the Danube Commission on a part-time basis. By Decree No. 75/2025, the President dismissed Lyubov Nepop from this position.
On Wednesday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on taxation of remuneration for gig contracts of Diia.City residents (draft law No. 9319) with an amendment to bring new tax rules (draft law No. 11416d) into force for individual entrepreneurs and legal entities on a single tax from January 1, 2025, said Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on taxation and customs policy.
“Draft Law 9319 has been signed. The increase for individual entrepreneurs comes into force on January 1. Everything is as promised,” he wrote in his telegram channel.
His deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that the law had been awaiting the president’s signature for 17 days.
As reported, on November 28, the President of Ukraine signed Law 4015-IX (Bill No. 11416-d) on amendments to the Tax Code regarding the peculiarities of taxation during martial law. The document envisages an increase in the military tax from 1.5% to 5% starting from October 1 this year, a 50% increase in the bank profit tax in 2024, and an increase in a number of other taxes and fees.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees appointing Yuliya Fediv as Ukraine’s ambassador to the Republic of Filipina, Vyacheslav Yatsyuk as Ukraine’s ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, and Vasyl Gamyanin as Ukraine’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The corresponding decrees No. 874/2024, 873/2024 and 878/2024 of December 21 were published on the website of the head of the Ukrainian state on Saturday.
Before that, Zelensky dismissed Gamyanin from the post of Ukraine’s ambassador to Indonesia and from the post of Ukraine’s representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which he held part-time. The head of state also dismissed Ukraine’s ambassador to Rwanda Andriy Pravednik from his post.
Yatsyuk was Ukraine’s ambassador to Norway in 2016-22, was previously director of the Foreign Ministry’s political department, and headed a working group in the OSCE. Fediv was previously head of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF), and her candidacy for Ukraine’s minister of culture was under consideration.
