Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has informed President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy about talks with representatives of Bulgaria and Romania.
“This area of cross-border cooperation is obviously growing now. I thank our partners. This is the work of the sea corridor, the Danube export cluster, and the trade turnover between our countries in general,” Zelensky said in a video message on Monday.
“With Romania alone, we see the potential for growth to 4 million tons of trade by the end of this year. This is very powerful and supports not only our state, not only jobs in Ukraine, but also in partner countries,” the president said.
Zelenskyy is confident that “we will add Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and the entire European Union to our cooperation.”
During a conversation with African journalists, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed holding a Ukraine-African Union summit and said he was ready to come to any African country for this purpose.
According to the head of state, Ukraine is interested in strategic partnership with the states of the African continent, but such a partnership should be based on mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, language and traditions.
“This should be in the cultural plane, in the economic plane, and in respect between people. Without violating your and our rights, without affecting your and our freedom. We respect any state that respects us,” he said.
As the next step in the development of strategic cooperation, Zelenskyy announced his readiness to visit any state on the African continent.
“I do not have any priorities here (regarding a particular African state – IF-U). I think that if we can organize ourselves where we can meet, so that I have maximum contact with as many leaders, as many communities as possible, I think that would be better. And I would like to have the opportunity to organize such a meeting “African Union – Ukraine” or “Ukraine – countries of the African continent,” the president said.
“To be honest, I don’t care what the format is called. The main goal is for us all to do our best to achieve stability in the world and to achieve peace on the territory of our country. And to put the question not only in Russia, but with this war and the end of this war to put in place any aggressor with any colonial ambitions for the future,” he added.
As he emphasized, this is also very important for the future, because such things, such outbreaks and such wars can happen anywhere in the world.
Cyprus-based International Distribution Systems Limited, the owner of Ukraine’s largest mineral water producer IDS Ukraine, has been subject to Ukrainian sanctions: asset freezes, prevention of capital outflows abroad, and a ban on increasing the authorized capital of related Ukrainian companies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Decree No. 739 of November 7 on the implementation of the sanctions adopted by the National Security and Defense Council on the same day was published on the President’s website.
The decree imposes similar sanctions on eight more companies: four – Sogeral Foundation, Haberfield Limited, Slavisilla Holdings Limited, and Dendar Investment Fund Limited (all based in Cyprus) – for a period of 10 years, while IDS Limited and four others are subject to two-year sanctions.
The latter also include Alfa Finance Holdings Limited, Erasmony Limited, Rissa Investments Limited and CTF Holdings S.A.
Most of these companies are associated with Mikhail Fridman and other co-owners of the so-called Alfa Group, as evidenced, in particular, by the data disclosed earlier in Russia on the scheme of interaction between the participants of the management company Alfa Capital Management Company LLC, under whose control or significant influence this management company was. The list includes Peter Aven, German Khan, Andrei Kosogov, Alexei Kuzmichev and the former minority shareholder of Sense Bank, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Friedman and his partners were previously included in the Ukrainian sanctions list.
As reported, the Ukrainian legislation adopted during the war allows the High Anti-Corruption Court to seize the assets of sanctioned persons to the state revenue.
Ukraine is not asking for any concessions on its way to the European Union and is implementing all the recommendations of the European Commission given to our country, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday in Kyiv at a joint press conference with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
“We have implemented the recommendations necessary to start membership negotiations. This applies to the rule of law, the protection of human rights and freedoms of national communities, greater transparency in the work of state institutions and strengthening of anti-corruption infrastructure,” he said.
Among the draft laws, Zelensky singled out the bill on lobbying, which “will add transparency to political processes and reliably protect the state from the destructive influence of oligarchs and others trying to circumvent the rule of law.”
According to him, “it is very important that the support of Europe and our other partners remains steady and reliable. This applies to defense and financial support. Russia needs to see that the world does not retreat in defense of freedom and international law.”
Zelenskyy said he expects sanctions actions to be strengthened, including “preventing the circumvention of existing sanctions, in particular by using European companies and the territories of Russia’s neighboring states.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may soon visit Brazil.
“Zelensky may soon go to Brazil. Lula da Silva will always be welcome in Ukraine,” Kuleba said in an interview with El Economista (Mexico), La Nación (Argentina) and CNN Brazil.
When asked whether the date of Zelenskyy’s visit to Brazil was already known, the Foreign Minister said that “work is underway.”
In addition, according to the minister, after Zelenskyy’s visit to Brazil, a visit to other countries in the region may be planned.
“Argentina is included in the list because of the significant presence of Ukrainians in the country and for the humanitarian assistance it has provided us,” Kuleba said.
The minister also thanked Brazil for convening an emergency meeting as president of the Security Council after Russia’s brutal attack on the village of Groza in Kharkiv region. Thunderstorm in Kharkiv region.
He noted that the Brazilian National Security Advisor will continue to participate in consultations on the Ukrainian “peace formula.”
“A new meeting will be scheduled soon, it has already been confirmed by Brazil. This is a good sign for relations between the two countries,” Kuleba emphasized.
During a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the impact of the attack on Israel on the security situation in the region and beyond, and expressed Ukraine’s solidarity with Israel.
“The Prime Minister spoke about the situation in Israel and the actions of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies to repel the attack. We stand in solidarity with Israel, which is suffering from a brazen large-scale attack, and condolences over the numerous victims. Cooperation between the Israeli police and Ukrainian diplomats on the issue of security and protection of Ukrainian citizens in Israel is now important,” Zelensky wrote in a Telegram message on Sunday.
Earlier, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky reported on the phone conversation between Zelensky and Netanyahu.
