- 1 day ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you very much, Deputy Prime Minister.
00:02I know it's a very busy day, and maybe a bit busier for you,
00:06because your president, Zelenskyy,
00:09who was originally not going to come to World Economic Forum,
00:13he's now here.
00:14I think he's meeting with the president in a little while.
00:17President Trump?
00:18No, first and foremost, initially,
00:21so that our president planned to participate in World Economic Forum.
00:26The only problem that we have is that Russia shelled our cities again.
00:34You know that Ukraine now has one of the severest winters,
00:38so that the temperature is like minus 15, minus 20,
00:41and Russia deliberately destroys electricity,
00:47district heating, and water supply.
00:49So it tries to kill our cities
00:51and create humanitarian catastrophes everywhere,
00:55in Kiev, in Dnipro, in Kharkiv.
00:58That's all big cities that have more than one million inhabitants.
01:03So that's why the president decided to shorten his problem.
01:08But today, there are two elements,
01:10the meeting with President Trump
01:11and also the events in the World Economic Forum.
01:14So that's also meeting with energy companies
01:17who can help us with the repairment of the energy system.
01:19But there was a suggestion that your president was also not wanting to come
01:26unless there was clear progress
01:28either in signing the security guarantees for Ukraine
01:32or in the so-called prosperity package from the U.S.,
01:37the $800 billion.
01:39Is there any progress on either of those?
01:41There is a progress since we had a lot of talks
01:46both on prosperity and security,
01:48so that we negotiated free of us,
01:51the United States, Ukraine, and the European Union.
01:55We provisionally designed the document on prosperity,
02:01which is rather like a policy document
02:03explaining the further work streams
02:05and to-do list for next at least 100 days
02:08on how to deploy this prosperity infrastructure.
02:12For security, there were as well talks
02:15between the Ukrainian team and the U.S. team yesterday,
02:18and these talks will continue.
02:21So that's why the progress is there.
02:25I don't think that we are ready for signing the document.
02:32It means all of us, yes,
02:34so that since there is no position of Russian Federation
02:38and their position is important
02:42since we are talking about CISFY and peace as well.
02:45Has anyone, I mean, there's going to be
02:49private, public, non-profit organizations
02:52contributing potentially to that package
02:55to help rebuild Ukraine, rebuild the economy.
02:59Has anyone actually committed any money to it at this point?
03:03First and foremost, we have long-term commitment
03:06from the European Union,
03:07so that both monetary,
03:09so that we have a 90 billion loan
03:11that helps us to survive 2026 and 2027.
03:16And there is a plan to have a budget for Ukraine
03:21for within next multi-annual financial framework
03:25of the European Union for 2028, 2034,
03:30so that it's around 100 billion euros.
03:33So that's also an anchor for the prosperity programs,
03:39both for macro-financial stability
03:41and also for seeding the private investments
03:45through different kinds of funds
03:47that already are established,
03:48so that you know that we have
03:49Ukraine-US recovery investment fund, URIF,
03:54so that was, which was born in the context
03:56of mineral deal with the United States.
03:58And also we have a flagship fund,
04:01European flagship fund,
04:03which encourages private investments.
04:05And it was already deployed
04:07within Ukraine investment framework
04:09of the European Union.
04:10So we already have a framework
04:12that will attract private capital,
04:14and we see that there are already
04:16progresses on several projects
04:19in exploration, in real estate
04:23and some other areas
04:24where business can happen here and now as well.
04:27So there's quite a lot of focus here
04:30or renewed focus on the potential
04:32for Ukraine to enter the European Union
04:35on some basis,
04:36and discussion around the European Union
04:38actually tearing up their normal process
04:41to make it conceivable
04:43that Ukraine could join on some basis next year.
04:46But part of that was for Ukraine
04:48to open those clusters.
04:51I think we probably don't want to go
04:53into the details of it,
04:54but I know Hungary was making that difficult.
04:57Has there been any progress on that?
04:58You see, the complexity of your question
05:00shows that this is like a very complex
05:02knot of different streams,
05:04and this is literally what is going on.
05:08So they have a path dependence
05:10of different tracks,
05:11so that the peace solution
05:12is based on the security pillar
05:16and prosperity pillar.
05:17Prosperity, so that the economic development
05:20of Ukraine is possible
05:21if we have three pillars.
05:23Strong security commitments,
05:24so that's why they go together.
05:28Financial stability,
05:29so we need macro-financial stability
05:31and also support for maintaining
05:33Ukrainian army,
05:35since it's like one of the core elements
05:37of security guarantees as well.
05:40And the third element
05:41is a trusted and predictable environment,
05:44which can be certified by EU accession.
05:47And EU accession by itself
05:50is also a geopolitical element
05:52that consolidates the security guarantees
05:55by themselves.
05:56So that's why in this environment,
05:59we have several nuances
06:01in our EU accession path.
06:03So it remains to be a merit-based process
06:06so that we are delivering our reforms
06:08and we receive EU accession.
06:09At the same time,
06:11we want to have a very clear commitment
06:13from the European Union
06:15for all this security environment
06:17that we have a precise date
06:19of our accession.
06:20So then it will be like
06:21mutual political commitment.
06:24And of course,
06:25we are thinking
06:25how we can speed up this process,
06:27how we can do something in parallel,
06:29what used to be done in sequence,
06:32in previous accession
06:33for other states.
06:34And of course,
06:36we believe that
06:37the involvement of the United States
06:39and general peace environment
06:41will change position
06:42of those member states
06:43who are opposed.
06:44After all,
06:44you know that Prime Minister Orban
06:45always says that
06:46accession is directly related
06:48to the effect of war in Ukraine.
06:50So that's why
06:51if we are talking about accession
06:53as a part of peace solution,
06:55so it means that
06:56even in the logic
06:57of Prime Minister Orban,
06:59he should change his position.
07:00You mentioned the situation
07:03in the cities.
07:04And I can say
07:05we have discussions
07:06with our own bureau
07:07and reporters
07:09working for Bloomberg
07:10in Kiev,
07:11our bureau chief,
07:13Dasha Krasnoludzka,
07:14who gave us the questions
07:17for this.
07:17I know she's sitting,
07:19freezing,
07:19they can't use the bureau
07:20because it's so cold.
07:22Have you been able
07:23to really have good conversations
07:26about moving forward
07:27with a ceasefire,
07:30with an agreement,
07:31while everyone here
07:32has been talking about Greenland?
07:34I mean,
07:34how difficult
07:35has that been for you?
07:36We are lucky
07:38so that we have
07:40the smartest people
07:41in the government here.
07:43So that's why
07:43we can talk
07:44and handle the conversation
07:46on different topics,
07:47not only on one.
07:49So that's why
07:50we manage,
07:51all our partners
07:52manage to talk
07:53about Greenland
07:54and Ukraine.
07:55And today,
07:56during Ukrainian breakfast,
07:57Mark Reuter mentioned
07:58that the NATO involvement
08:01into the Greenland solution
08:02and he highlighted
08:03that Ukraine
08:04is a core element
08:05since the core enemy
08:07for Europe
08:08and for NATO
08:09is Russia.
08:10So that's why
08:11there is no unfocus.
08:12Everyone is focused
08:13and is moving forward.
08:15And, you know,
08:16yesterday's speech
08:17of President Trump
08:17is as well,
08:19was quite clear,
08:20clear on this,
08:21that all topics
08:22have been covered properly.
08:24On situation in Ukraine,
08:26it is very close
08:28to the humanitarian catastrophe.
08:29so that's what says
08:31Daria and Vladimir
08:32can describe
08:32that how cold it is.
08:35I think that we still
08:36can make some jokes
08:38on this
08:38because I joke
08:40that out of free heat,
08:42water or electricity,
08:44you can choose two
08:45or sometimes only one.
08:46Yeah, so that
08:47and but if it will be like zero
08:50and permanently,
08:51permanently,
08:52it will be catastrophe.
08:53You cannot like survive
08:54in this,
08:55especially if you have frost
08:57like on minus 10,
08:58minus 15.
08:59And for us,
09:01this is a matter
09:02where Russia believes
09:03that it can force us
09:05to surrender
09:06in this situation,
09:06but the real reaction
09:10will be to bounce back.
09:12So that means
09:12that the people in Ukraine
09:14will definitely be
09:16of position
09:16that we cannot surrender,
09:19we cannot like stop fighting
09:21if Russia destroys our city.
09:22But it is very effective
09:24for Russia
09:24in one way at least.
09:26It persuades many people
09:28and certainly potentially
09:29many in Washington
09:30that they are right
09:32to think that Russia
09:33is winning.
09:34Even though I think
09:35you are making good,
09:36it seems like there's been
09:37a big increase
09:38in Russian casualties
09:39in the last couple of months
09:40and on the battlefield,
09:42I think,
09:43our understanding
09:44is that things have been
09:45going much better
09:46for Ukraine,
09:46but the overriding impression
09:48people have
09:49is of this enormous pressure
09:52on the Ukrainian population.
09:53Let me disagree with you.
09:56So it might be,
09:57it sounds strange,
09:59but indeed,
10:00we increase
10:00the number of losses
10:02for Russia.
10:04for Russia.
10:05They lose
10:06thousands of soldiers
10:08killed daily
10:10and they really
10:11burn their people
10:13daily on the front line.
10:16What we see now
10:17is an attempt
10:18of Russia,
10:20I don't know,
10:20in a romantic way
10:21or their sadistic
10:23understanding of history
10:24is just to use
10:25the very cold weather
10:27to punish civilian people.
10:30So that's,
10:31it is not warfare,
10:33it's just really
10:34like war crimes,
10:36deliberate destruction
10:38of civilians,
10:39attacking of civilians
10:40and they somehow believe
10:43that it can,
10:44it can force us
10:46to change our position.
10:48It will be vice versa.
10:49We will survive.
10:50We have a lot of support.
10:52We encourage
10:52all energy companies
10:53to supply us equipment.
10:55Our energy companies
10:57are repairing everything
10:58very fast
10:59with enormous speed
11:01and I also receive
11:02some feedbacks
11:03from my children
11:03and they say,
11:04okay,
11:04we now have electricity,
11:06now have water
11:06and so on.
11:07It's just like popping up
11:08in different areas.
11:09So we will survive,
11:11we will go through
11:12this winter
11:12but Ukrainians
11:14will know
11:14that everyone
11:15will witness
11:16the fact that Russia
11:17tried to kill
11:18literally everyone
11:19in Ukrainian cities.
11:20But meanwhile,
11:21we have a situation,
11:23your president is about
11:24to talk to
11:25President Trump
11:28but you have
11:30Steve Witkoff
11:31and Jarub Kushner
11:32going to Russia
11:32to talk to President Putin.
11:34Again,
11:35the Ukrainians
11:35not in the room.
11:37Do you have a sense,
11:38I mean,
11:39that is obviously
11:39a frustration
11:40but do you have a sense
11:41of they say
11:42they're 90%
11:43of the way there,
11:44how is that going to move?
11:46How is President Putin
11:47going to move?
11:48We have a lot of people
11:49from corporate world
11:50here in Davos.
11:51So that's why
11:52I think that
11:53everyone will
11:54get an understanding
11:56that peace process
11:57is not a classical
11:58project management
11:59when you have
12:00like policy cycle,
12:01planning
12:01and the clear results
12:03on the date
12:04that you planned
12:05with a little postponement
12:06and a little bigger budget.
12:09This is like
12:10absolutely unique process.
12:13I'm happy that
12:14the United States
12:15are engaged
12:16in this process.
12:17They understand
12:18that this is an art
12:20so that this is
12:21like very tailor-made
12:22or bespoke approach.
12:24We are working
12:25and engage
12:26with them
12:27on like 24-7
12:28on all elements
12:30and we believe
12:32that these undertakings
12:33will result
12:34into the fact
12:35that Russians
12:35will be
12:36in trilateral negotiations
12:38and finding solutions
12:39that will be
12:41really strong,
12:42long-lasting
12:43and bring prosperity
12:44and stability
12:44to Ukraine and Europe.
12:45I know you have
12:46to go to your next meeting
12:47so as a last question
12:48and forgive me
12:49Deputy Prime Minister
12:49there's I'm sure
12:50a lot of sympathy
12:51for people here
12:52listening to you
12:53and talking about
12:54the experience
12:54of Ukrainians
12:55in cities
12:56but as you know
12:57there has also been
12:58some criticism
12:59from your European partners
13:00of Ukraine
13:02allowing men
13:03under age of 22
13:06to cross the border.
13:07Are you,
13:07Germany and others
13:08have been concerned
13:10about that.
13:11Are you rethinking that?
13:12Nothing is ideal
13:15in our story
13:16from 2020
13:16to 2024
13:17and 2026
13:20so that's like
13:21for these four years
13:22sorry for missing dates.
13:24So this decision
13:26yes indeed
13:27we got some remarks
13:28from some governments
13:30and we are in the course
13:31of consideration
13:32on how to react
13:33to this fact
13:35we are verifying figures
13:36and different cases
13:37and so on
13:38indeed this is a topic
13:39that is under discussion
13:40so that's
13:41and maybe there will be
13:42some announcement later.
13:43So you can see
13:44that you can recognize
13:45the concern
13:46and you'll respond to it.
13:47We are very frank
13:48with our partners
13:48so that's we
13:49also we discuss
13:51what we need
13:52how they can help
13:53how we can deliver
13:55reforms people
13:56and a lot of other things
13:58logistics trade
13:59you heard about
14:00the tensions
14:01between farmers
14:02and so on
14:02so on
14:03there were a lot
14:04of different situations
14:05but we managed
14:07to tackle all of them
14:08for these four years.
14:09Deputy Prime Minister
14:10thank you so much
14:10for your honest remarks.
Comments