Volodymyr Zelensky: May and the following months will be very active for Ukraine internationally
President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians on Tuesday evening that May and the following months will be very active for Ukraine on the international stage, involving negotiations and other international events that will strengthen the country's defense. Very likely, he has in mind the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, where Kiev wants to obtain firm security guarantees and an accession date, during which Ukraine hopes to recover its occupied territories thanks to an imminent counteroffensive, reports Hotnews.ro.
Volodymyr Zelensky hinted at the counter-offensive at the start of his daily address to Ukrainians, but stressed that all plans remain secret. He said he had a meeting with the Army, key commanders and other defense officials.
Thus, he announced that the tightening of the regime of sanctions against Russia is being prepared - both its own, Ukrainian, and with its partners.
As for international partners, Zelensky showed that May and the following months will be very active for Ukraine on the international stage. "There will be a lot of negotiation work, there will be international events that will strengthen our defense. We are working on everything. Today, we had several meetings on what is planned for this week and for the near future," he noted, most likely in preparation for the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, to which Zelenski is going with the hope of obtaining firm security guarantees and possibly a prospect of membership for Ukraine.
Moreover, he pointed out that he met on Tuesday with a delegation of the Portuguese Parliament, led by the president of the legislative forum in Lisbon, who told him what Kiev expects from the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Zelenski said that he also had a meeting with Prime Minister Denîs Şmîhal. "We are coordinating and preparing our decisions. We are preparing conceptual security solutions for the development of Ukraine and our infrastructure, both now and after the war. We are also preparing for the planned international meetings on the reconstruction of Ukraine and relevant negotiations with partners," Zelensky explained.
As part of his efforts to broaden the support Ukraine is getting to other continents more reluctant to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine, such as Africa, Zelenskiy said he had spoken with the head of the African Union, the president of Comoros, given that Ukrainian grain exports are at risk of going through a new deadlock. The EU has decided to block Ukrainian imports to Ukraine's five neighboring countries, allowing only transit, while Russia threatens to end the possibility of Ukrainian grain being transported across the Black Sea.
At the end of his speech on Tuesday evening, Zelenskiy thanked, as always, those who defend Ukraine and mentioned in particular two brigades "that defend the Bahmut direction" and "are really effective". The Ukrainian army, which is preparing to launch a counter-offensive against Russian forces, vowed on Tuesday not to give up the eastern city of Bahmut.
