During a more than four-hour-long meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed security issues in Ukraine and Europe, including a peaceful settlement in the Donbas and the risks of Nord Stream 2, press service of the President's Office reports.
Apostrophe gathered key messages highlighted during the briefing following the Merkel-Zelensky meeting, which was broadcast by the Office of the President on Facebook.
Nord Stream 2
President Zelensky noted that there are different views on the implementation of Nord Stream 2, but Ukraine was able to give Germany many arguments about the risks of this project.
According to Zelensky, it is very important that Ukraine's partners understand that Nord Stream 2 is not a purely economic project.
"For us, it's not just the words “energy security”. First, we receive $ 2 billion a year for transit. Big money," the President said, adding that these funds are used, in particular, to support the army, to ensure Ukraine's energy efficiency - to reduce gas use, improve energy infrastructure, and more.
According to Zelensky, it will take about 10-15 years to switch to renewable energy.
"We must be sure that we will have a normal gas supply. We need these guarantees," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The issue of gas supply to the occupied territories was also touched upon. The Head of State noted that Ukraine is making every effort to hold the next meeting of the leaders of the Normandy format, but it is delayed due to Russia's position.
"Everyone sees that the Normandy meeting is postponed today. Because the clusters on the practical implementation of the Minsk process developed by the German party are agreed by France, and we support them as well - they were submitted to the Russian party. And everyone sees that the Normandy meeting is postponed due to the position of the Russian Federation," Zelensky explained.
Minsk Agreements
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for her part, noted low progress in implementing the Minsk agreements.
"Ukraine has opened many checkpoints along the line of delimitation. Unfortunately, this was not done to the same extent by the separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions," she said.
Angela Merkel stated that the pressure on Ukraine is increasing by Russia's buildup of troops and armaments on the Ukrainian border. She also mentioned the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers in recent days.
The Chancellor assured that any new Federal Government of Germany will stand for the progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Normandy Format
In turn, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said all countries must put pressure on Russia to hold a meeting in the Normandy format to establish peace in Ukraine
"It seems to me that all of us, all countries, should address the Russian party, demand a meeting in the Normandy format to end the war in eastern Ukraine and return our illegally occupied territories," he said.
In this context, the President of Ukraine called for the issue of Nord Stream 2 to be part of the issues of the forthcoming meeting in the Normandy format.
"We have just started discussing this idea. I have not received an answer from Mrs. Merkel, but I think that we all have little time in general - very little time for our countries. Ukraine is in danger, we have a war, and, as the Chancellor said, there have been several military casualties recently again. Therefore, I believe that we need specifics because we can agree and keep (the agreements - ed.) in the future," said the President of Ukraine, expressing hope that today's meeting with the German Chancellor "will end in specifics".
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also spoke in favor of involving US President Joe Biden in the Normandy negotiating format.
COVID-19 vaccine
Angela Merkel said that Germany will provide Ukraine with coronavirus vaccines. Berlin will give Kyiv 1.5 million vaccine doses.
"Ukraine and Germany want to overcome the challenges of the pandemic together. We can promise Ukraine up to 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine today. This is a very important step," the German Chancellor said.