President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell within the first visit of the EU head of diplomacy to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the EU representative for the visit despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The key attention during the meeting was paid to the issues of peaceful settlement in the east of Ukraine and the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The EU High Representative was briefed on the security situation in Donbas and the implementation of the agreements reached during the Paris Summit in the Normandy format.
The President thanked Josep Borrell for the EU's continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that during the visit of EU representatives to Donbas scheduled for this week, European officials will be able to see for themselves how the "silence" regime is observed, in what conditions the Ukrainian military serve, and so on.
The President stressed the critical importance of keeping the issue of de-occupation of Crimea in the focus of the UN and the EU. The issue of creating a negotiating platform for the de-occupation of the Crimean peninsula was also raised.
"For us, the key issue is to create a permanent platform, which raises primarily humanitarian issues, human rights issues, the issues of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied Crimea and the return of our occupied territory in general," the President emphasized.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Josep Borrel also discussed preparations for the 22nd Ukraine-EU Summit, which will take place on October 1 in Brussels. The President expressed hope that the Joint Statement, which will be adopted following the Summit, will properly reflect the level of ambitions of the parties to further deepen the strategic partnership and economic integration between Ukraine and the EU.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy assured the President that the EU continues to stand in support of our country.
"The European Union is Ukraine's largest, most powerful and most reliable partner. We support Ukraine in terms of economic integration, but we also support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. I would like to emphasize that we provide every possible strong support to the reforms that are being implemented," Josep Borrell said.
He called the visit of EU representatives to Donbas the evidence of such support.
The EU High Representative also stressed that the European Union would never recognize the occupation of Crimea and would not back down from that position.
The parties discussed in detail the course of reforms in Ukraine, in particular, Josep Borrell praised the leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in promoting such reforms as land reform, reform of the banking and non-banking financial sectors, the fight against corruption and reducing the influence of oligarchs.
The President also informed about the preparation of judicial reform and assured that the current Ukrainian government is most interested in building an independent anti-corruption structure and law enforcement system for the democratic development of Ukraine.