Zelenskyy talks to the UK, Estonia, Uganda and Pakistan as part of his diplomacy marathon

On 22 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talked to the leaders of Pakistan, Uganda, Estonia and the UK, and said the rest of the week would be busy in terms of international contacts and engagements.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s video address

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Today, we continued our diplomatic marathon to strengthen Ukraine and protect international law, which gives our country more security. I spoke with four leaders of states."

Details: Zelenskyy said he had discussed the importance of maintaining "full force and respect" for the UN Charter, the independence of nations and the territorial integrity of states with Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi. The presidents also discussed their efforts to ensure food security and the factors that currently threaten it.

Zelenskyy noted that over the seven months of Ukraine’s grain export initiative, 43 countries have received more than 22 million tonnes of food through sea export from Ukraine.

He said that had it not been for this initiative, political and social chaos would ensue in several African and Asian countries, and the cost of living crisis that various nations experienced last year would be much more acute.

"But if this initiative of ours had worked at full capacity, if Russia had not tried to slow it down, we would have been able to export more food products. That is, there would be significantly more guarantees of food security in the world. Our partners know exactly which of Russia's deliberate actions are undermining food security. Still, we are working to provide the necessary stability," Zelenskyy said.

Today President Zelenskyy also spoke with the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, thanking him for Estonia’s unwavering support for Ukraine in terms of both weapons supplies and support for sanctions against Russia. 

"Today we discussed the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius and our expectations in the context of Ukraine's integration. We are already preparing for these upcoming events," Zelenskyy said.

He also mentioned his conversation with the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, the first such conversation in the history of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Uganda. Zelenskyy informed Museveni about the peace initiatives that Ukraine is promoting at the UN, and the leaders discussed the potential of bilateral cooperation between their countries.

In the evening Zelenskyy spoke with Rishi Sunak, the UK Prime Minister.

"We are working in a very powerful manner together with the UK to strengthen our warriors, to bring our shared victory closer, to implement the defence agreements we reached during my visit to London. And it would be great if all our partners understood, as the UK does, how the speed of defence supplies correlates with concrete achievements on the battlefield," Zelenskyy said.

He added that he and Sunak had also discussed important political issues that "need to be resolved this week".

"The second half of the week will be even busier in terms of international relations. We are keeping up the diplomatic pace," Zelenskyy concluded.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!