04/21/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/21/2023 13:42
21 April 2023 - 21:16
On behalf of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak had a phone talk with the foreign policy advisors to the heads of government of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and the foreign policy advisor to the President of Finland. The parties discussed the formats of further support for Ukraine.
"I want to note the significant contribution of Northern Europe's countries to speeding up Ukraine's victory and emphasize the importance of further coordination to strengthen the political and practical support for our country in the fight against Russian aggression," Yermak said at the beginning of the talks.
The head of the Office of the President also outlined the Ukrainian vision of the possible scope and specific mechanisms for implementing guarantees, reflected in the Kyiv Security Compact, developed by the Yermak-Rasmussen international expert group. According to Yermak, a clear algorithm for Ukraine's movement towards membership in the Alliance should be proposed at the Vilnius NATO summit.
"I hope that the countries of Northern Europe will support the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine before it becomes a full member of NATO and are ready to sign the relevant document," he said, calling on the participants to share their views on the possibilities of maximizing the practical results of the Vilnius NATO Summit and, in particular, provision of security guarantees to Ukraine before joining the Alliance.
The head of the President's Office also informed the representatives of the Northern European countries about the Ukrainian Peace Formula. Yermak said Ukraine is counting on the readiness of these states to participate in its implementation and to encourage as many other countries as possible to join. He reiterated the importance of holding the Global Peace Summit, ensuring participation in it at the highest level, and called to consider the proposal on the possibility of hosting it by one of the Scandinavian countries.
Separately, the participants in the talks focused on the issues of expanding defense support for Ukraine, including air defense, long-range artillery, combat aircraft and ammunition.
The head of the President's Office separately thanked Finland for the decision to provide the 15th defense aid package of EUR 78 million to Ukraine, which brought the total cost of the defense aid packages to EUR 990 million.