I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!
I have just spoken with Olha Stefanishyna, now Ukraine’s new Ambassador to the United States of America. The formal procedures are complete – today I signed the decree appointing her as Ambassador. I outlined the key tasks for reinvigorating the work of our Embassy, and the main thing is to fully implement all the agreements reached in Washington – our agreements with President Trump, above all in the defense sphere. Much of Ukraine’s long-term security depends on relations with America. There are two Ukrainian proposals on the table – strong proposals. These are: an agreement on weapons for Ukraine and an agreement on modern drones for the United States.
And we count on swift progress in our relations. I am grateful to Oksana Markarova. Oksana represented Ukraine in Washington throughout all these years of the full-scale war – a very difficult mission. And Ukraine was always heard in the United States. I want to thank her for this work. We have already spoken about further cooperation, and I invited Oksana Markarova to remain part of the team – to continue working for Ukraine.
Today as well, our diplomatic efforts continue: our Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Security and Defense Council engage with partners who support the need for a leaders-level format – a format for ending the war. The level of leaders enables discussion of key issues – exactly the level we require. We all see the brazenly negative signals from Moscow regarding negotiations: the Russians are not going to fulfill what they promised the United States, what they promised others around the world who insist on stopping the killings and on real diplomacy. Pressure must be applied. Russia must be forced into real steps. Russia must end the war it started and continues. There has to be an answer from them. They must be pressed to the right answer. And this depends on America, on all those who believe this war is truly wrong.
