Ukraine wants the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the United States on August 30 to be productive and bring results that will take relations between Ukraine and the United States to the next level, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said ahead of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The United States acted decisively when Russia resorted to escalation along our border and in the occupied territories of Ukraine just a few months ago. And since then we have had a very dynamic dialogue with the Biden administration. I came here, as Antony (U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken) said, to prepare my president’s visit to Washington. We want this visit to be productive, have many results that will take our relations to the next level,” the minister said ahead of talks with Blinken in Washington on Thursday.
Kuleba added that this is not only in the interests of the United States and Ukraine, but also in the interests of the entire region, which he represents, where democracy should develop, and prosperity and security should be ensured.
“Ukraine is a stronghold of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, and we want to work closely with the United States to make the entire region a success story,” Kuleba said.
In turn, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that he was glad to welcome Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the Ukrainian delegation to the U.S. Department of State.
The U.S. Secretary of State said that he and Dmytro (Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba) have worked closely together for the past six months since he took office. U.S. President Joe Biden looks forward to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the end of the month. He said that they are going to discuss preparations for this visit today and that they have a lot of work going on now.
Blinken said that the United States is absolutely committed to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The U.S. Secretary of State said that they will continue to work together for strong Ukraine, which is able to defend itself from external aggression, but also to move forward with a vital path of reforms that will further strengthen its democracy and economy. We are going to discuss a number of other joint regional challenges, he said.
