Ukraine Must be on U.S., EU’s Radar – Arseniy Yatsenyuk

Ukraine Must be on U.S., EU’s Radar – Arseniy Yatsenyuk
12 September 2015

The second day of the 12th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting began with a discussion about Ukraine’s progress on reforms and outlook, featuring Arseniy Yatsenyuk, prime minister of Ukraine, and moderated by Stephen Sackur, presenter of HARDtalk, BBC World News.

Yatsenyuk spoke with vigor, stating that Ukraine should be a key priority for the United States and the European Union, because Russian military aggression against the country's east is a challenge not just to Ukraine, but to the entire world.

"I can say one thing with regard to the EU and the U.S.: Ukraine should be on their radar,” Yatsenyuk said. “The U.S. is making efforts to settle global problems while the EU is dealing with its internal issues. They have their own internal political agenda and it is very important for Ukraine to be a key priority for the EU and the U.S. because Russia is fighting not only against Ukraine; the Russian president is fighting against the free world."

In Yatsenyuk's opinion, the Russian army is a threat to international stability therefore Ukraine and the West should close ranks in their fight for freedom and dignity.

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk’s talk opened the second day of the YES Annual Meeting, which brings together more than 350 global leaders from politics, business, society and media from more than 20 countries to discuss new Ukraine’s impact on Europe and the world. The second day of the forum will address the theme “Can Ukraine Make It? Reform Successes, Failures and Outcomes.”

The 12th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting is streamed live at yes-ukraine.org as well as web-sites of the Media Partners in English and Ukrainian.

The official Twitter of the 12th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hashtag: #YESUkraine2015.

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John Tefft
John Tefft
Ambassador to Ukraine (2009-2013), 15th YES Annual Meeting, 2018
«Russia still has to become a modern nation. It still hasn’t made the fundamental decisions to determine whether it’s going to be a part of the international community or whether it’s going to try to be an imperial power and attack its neighbors, and take their land.»