With his 13-year-old Golden Retriever by his side, Geoffrey R. Pyatt took time out on Constitution Day in Ukraine to conduct live and Skype interviews as he also prepared to host more visiting U.S. members of Congress in Kyiv. An estimated 70 U.S. lawmakers have made the trip to Ukraine in the last year, a testament to strong American interest in the nation.
While Ukraine has had another tough year, Pyatt highlighted progress made by recalling his remarks a year ago during the annual U.S. ambassador’s backyard barbeque to celebrate America’s Independence Day.
Pyatt compared the poor state of Ukraine’s army a year ago with the 2,000 troops of the American Continental Army who died from starvation, disease and cold in Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. Only a few weeks later, in July 2014, hundreds of Ukrainian troops were killed by Russian-separatist forces during the Massacre of Ilovaisk, a stinging blow coming only five months after the Ukrainian military surrender of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014.
“Clearly the Ukrainian military has developed much more substantial capabilities now,” Pyatt said, partly thanks to training, non-lethal military assistance and other aid provided by the United States and NATO partners.
But, even for a “glass half full” person like Pyatt, the security challenges ahead are enormous.
“All of Russia’s actions so far leave me concerned that the Kremlin has not yet made the decision to comply with the obligations that it undertook as part of the Minsk” peace accords in February, Pyatt said. “Russia continues with its train and equip program in the east. We continue to see Russian surface-to-air missile systems, Russian heavy weapons in eastern Ukraine.”
The next six months will show the fate of the Minsk peace agreements in February.
“The single biggest yardstick of success will be the restoration of Ukrainian control over the international border by the end of 2015,” Pyatt said. “Until that happens, sadly, Russia will retain the ability to reignite the war at a time and place of its choosing.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine, besides undermining the U.S. security goal of a Europe that is “whole, free and at peace,” has thwarted progress in U.S.-Ukranian relations.
“Let’s be honest, a lot of the affirimative agenda that I brough to my tenure in Ukraine and the Ukrainian people had for themelves has been hijacked by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and war,” Pyatt said. “Job No. 1 is to survive and job No. 1 is to prevent further Russian territorial acquisition and to build up Ukraine’s ability to defend its sovereign territory.”
Pyatt reeled off areas of limited progress in transforming post-EuroMaidan Revolution Ukraine from a corrupt autocracy to an honest democracy: constitutional, energy and financial sector reform; decentralization, and a new pilot police force in Kyiv, among them.
But he wants more.
“I am with the radical reformers,” Pyatt said. “What Ukraine needs is not incremental reform. It needs dramatic reform…Part of my message as ambassador is that, to the extent that Ukraine sticks to the reform path, the United States will support them. As U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has said to Ukrainians: You keep reforming, we will keep supporting.”
While the United States is prepared to help, such as by offering technical assistance to prosecutors and law enforcement, the rot and corruption in Ukraine “are deeply, deeply rooted and it’s going to take a long time.”
His endorsement about the motives of Ukraine’s political leaders is unequivocally positive.
“We have complete confidence that President [Petro] Poroshenko, Prime Minister [Arseniy] Yatsenyuk and the government the Ukrainian government are acting in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Pyatt said. “And I’m pretty confident that Ukraine’s free press, civil society, Rada [parliament] and others will call them out if they’re ever tempted to act differently.”
Many, however, have criticized the U.S. attitude towards Ukraine as one that is long on symbolism and short on substance.
One of the markers being watched is whether U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Ukraine before he leaves the presidency on Jan. 20, 2017.
“I can’t predict,” Pyatt said about a possible Obama visit. “What I can tell you is the adminsitration as a whole is going to continue the exceptional attention and investment they’ve made here,” which is highlighted, he said, by Biden’s three visits to Ukraine.
“I, for one, am exceptionally proud of the leadership role that the United States has played in helping to maintain an international coalition in support of Ukraine,” Pyatt said. “I can’t come back from a weekend in Lviv without being pestered with questions: Why aren’t you doing this, why aren’t you doing that? But we, as Americans, have a lot to be proud of in terms of the support that we have provided.
“But equally important for me, personally, is the degree to which Ukrainians themselves have earned that support through sacrifice, through their courage in the war, through their political courage implementing economic reform, through their courage at the ballot box. They have earned the best the United States can provide and that’s what we will continue to provide.”
If sustained attention to Ukraine doesn’t translate into a presidential visit, it does guarantee that Ukraine will remain a priority – but only if Ukraine keeps progressing on the democratic front.
“The fear that I see sometimes among Ukrainians is that we are going to be forgotten,” Pyatt said. “I don’t see that as a risk unless Ukraine defaults to business as usual. Americans like winners. To the extent that Ukrainians can demonstrate they are winners, that they are building a new politics, are building a new country, America will be enthusiastic about supporting that. The values that lie behind this government, that lie behind the Maidan and behind the Ukrainian people themselves are ones that are very resonant for Americans.”
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
Remarks by U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt at a reception celebrating U.S. Independence Day
Ukraine, July 2, 2015
Thank you, Yaryna. Thank you, Ruslana.
And a special thank you to the men and woman of the U.S. Army Chorus. I would like, to first of all begin by acknowledging Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Mayor Klitschko, Minister Abromavicius, Leader of the Opposition Boyko, and all of the other friends of the U.S.-Ukraine partnership, from civil society, politics, and across all of united Ukraine.
I also want to say a special welcome, and say how honored I am today, that we are joined by two U.S. Congressional delegations, in particular Senator Wicker, and his delegation from the U.S. Helsinki Commission.
There is nothing that I can think of that would better reflect the spirit of bipartisan support from the American people to the people of Ukraine at this difficult time.
The Fourth of July has always been my favorite American holiday. Most importantly because it is, at the end of the day, a celebration of the idea of America, principles of freedom, rule of law, democracy: principles that today, Ukraine and the United States hold deeply in common.
As one of our Congressional visitors pointed out in a meeting today, both of us are countries born of revolution.
We have had a little more time to work on the perfection of our democracy. But there should be no doubt that the principles of democracy and self-determination that underlay our revolution are shared very much by the Revolution of Dignity.
When we gathered on this occasion one year ago, I recalled the bitter winter of 1777, when George Washington and his Continental Army were gathered at Valley Forge. It was a time when the American Revolutionary Army lacked shoes, lacked winter clothing, and few people thought that this experiment in democracy in the Americas would prevail.
But George Washington and his Continental Army survived, and they moved forward to build the America that we celebrate today.
In the same way, Ukraine has passed through its Valley Forge, its Winter of 1777. And now Ukraine is moving forward to build the modern, democratic, European state that we so long have hoped to support.One other critical difference from a year ago, and one of the reasons we have the U.S. Army chorus with us today, is that today we have 300 men and women of the U.S. 173rd Division who are at Yavoriv, training and helping to build the capacity of Ukrainian forces to defend your own sovereign territory.
And I hope especially all of us Americans will take a minute on the Fourth of July, as we celebrate with friends and family, to remember those of the Rock, the 173rd,who are away from their families while they help to build a more safe and secure and democratic Ukraine.Prime Minister, thank you for honoring us with your presence today, and all of your colleagues from the government, and from the opposition.
And I know it’s a very busy day in the Rada, so I’m even more grateful that so many colleagues have been able to join this celebration with us.So I ask everybody to join me in a quick toast to the future of the strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. To Victory. Slava Ukraini, Slava America.
