Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has registered in the Verkhovna Rada bills “On extending martial law in Ukraine” and “On extending the period of general mobilization.”
The cards of bills No. 9259 and No. 9260 appeared on the parliament’s website on Monday evening.
The texts of the documents have not yet been made public.
As reported, Golos faction member Yaroslav Zheleznyak indicated that martial law and mobilization in Ukraine will probably be extended for 90 days – from May 19, 2023 to mid-August.
Earlier, on February 7, the Rada extended martial law and general mobilization in Ukraine for another 90 days (from February 19, 2023).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with a delegation of politicians, businessmen and representatives of United States charities led by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The head of state noted the importance of such visits and meetings, which are a powerful signal of support for Ukrainians in our fight for freedom and democracy, the press service of the Office of the President reported Tuesday.
“I’m glad to see you have come with your friends,” the president said, addressing Mike Pompeo. – Comprehensive American support is very important to us.”
During the meeting, the head of state invited American business to actively invest in Ukraine. “We are open to this, we are ready to provide you with full assistance. It is very important for us,” he said.
Zelensky informed about business development opportunities in construction, agriculture, IT technology, etc. The president also emphasized the importance of continuing and strengthening defense assistance and joint development of defense technologies, taking into account the experience acquired by Ukraine during the war. “Invest in business, because business is what creates jobs. We are interested in people being able to find jobs and the budget getting revenue to strengthen our capabilities on the battlefield,” summarized the head of state.
A number of other topical issues were also discussed, in particular Ukraine’s movement to NATO, the importance of further strengthening the sanctions pressure on Russia. Zelenski noted the activities of American charitable organizations, whose representatives were present at the meeting, focused on helping displaced people, rebuilding destroyed housing stock, providing medical care, and providing drinking water and food.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Ukraine.
In an interview with the Associated Press, it is noted that Zelenskyy extended an invitation to Ukraine to one notable and strategically important leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We are ready to see him here. I want to speak with him. I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have,” the Associated Press said, citing Zelenskyy.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, volunteer Serhiy Prytula and advisor to the head of the presidential office Mykhaylo Podolyak top the list of politicians and public figures trusted by Ukrainians, according to results of a poll conducted by the Razumkov Center polling service from 22 February to 1 March 2023 as part of the MATRA program financed by the Dutch Embassy in Ukraine.
According to a press release with the results of the survey, which was released on Wednesday, 85% of respondents trust V. Zelensky, S. Pritula – 65% and M. Podolyak – 59.5%.
More than half of Ukrainians trust also Kiev mayor Vitaliy Klitschko (58% of respondents), the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov (55%), Prime Minister Denis Shmygal (52%), and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov (51%).
More often trust than distrust were expressed by the Head of the President’s Office Andriy Ermak (41% and 36% respectively), the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk (35% and 27% respectively), activist and volunteer Sergei Sternenko (29% and 18% respectively), the Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko (27% and 17% respectively).
The majority of respondents do not trust MPs Yuri Boiko (82%) and Yulia Tymoshenko (76%), the fifth President of Ukraine, MP Petro Poroshenko (65%), former presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych (59%). The head of the parliamentary faction “Servant of the People” David Arahamia is also expressed more often in distrust than trust (39% and 27% respectively).
“Compared to 2021, the share of those who trust V. Zelenski (from 33% to 85%), S. Pritula (from 22% to 65%), V. Klitschko (from 26% to 58%), A. Danilov (from 12% to 55%), D. Shmygal (from 11% to 52%), A. Yermak (from 10% to 41%), S. Sternenko (from 15% to 29%) and P. Poroshenko (from 18% to 24%) increased. During the same period the percentage of those who trust Y. Boiko (from 18% to 6%) and Y. Tymoshenko (from 20% to 13%) decreased,” sociologists concluded.
The survey was conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from February 22 to March 1, 2023 in the framework of the MATRA program, funded by the Dutch Embassy in Ukraine in 22 regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv (the survey was not conducted in Lugansk and Donetsk regions, in the ARC and Sevastopol, and in Zaporozhye, Nikolayev, Kharkiv and Kherson regions – the study was conducted only on the territories controlled by the government of Ukraine and on which no military operations are conducted).
As part of the face-to-face survey, 2,020 respondents aged 18 years and older were interviewed. The theoretical sampling error does not exceed 2.3%.
Ukraine needs to strengthen protection of energy facilities before the next heating season and carry out work to decentralize the energy sector, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Sunday.
“We are working through all scenarios and will do everything to approach the next winter ready for any threat. In six months, our power engineers, officials, the security and defense sector and everyone involved in the relevant tasks must do absolutely specific things,” he said.
According to the president, it is necessary “to strengthen the protection of power facilities, to restore the infrastructure that has been destroyed by Russian strikes in the past six months, to give more opportunities to our people under the power system decentralization project, so that people can generate and supply electricity on their private territory, on their private facilities. This is a big job; it has already begun.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on French business to invest in the Ukrainian food industry.
Speaking by video link at the “Solidarity with the Ukrainian People” conference in Paris on Tuesday, Zelensky recalled that this year “through joint efforts we managed to stop the unfolding of the global food crisis.”
“We have already exported more than 13 million tons of grain. Thanks to our Grain from Ukraine initiative, we will help the poorest countries,” he said.
“But we also send humanitarian cargo to export, mostly raw materials, and we can send processed products. Right now there is a need to build a whole industry that will be export-oriented and definitely have consumers, and definitely give profit,” Zelensky said.
It would be right, he said, “if French business has already assessed the prospects and came to Ukraine. The same is in the energy, machine building, defense industry, transport and other industries.
