President of Ukraine

President met with representatives of the group of world leaders The Elders Ban Ki-moon and Juan Manuel Santos Calderón 

16 August 2022 - 21:12

President met with representatives of the group of world leaders The Elders Ban Ki-moon and Juan Manuel Santos Calderón 

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the deputy head of the independent group of world leaders The Elders, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a member of this group, ex-President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos Calderón.

The Head of State thanked Ban Ki-moon and Juan Manuel Santos Calderón for their visit and attention to Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the topic of the war in our country should remain in the world information space, as it indicates the support for Ukraine.

"Now we really need support from the united world. We need people who are able to unite the world around helping our country," said the President.

He noted that the world should make joint efforts to force the aggressor to end the war of aggression in Ukraine as soon as possible.

At the same time, the Head of State emphasized that Ukraine will need the help of the world community in post-war reconstruction as well. He also raised the issue of providing security guarantees for our country.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ban Ki-moon and Juan Manuel Santos Calderón could share their thoughts on the development of such a system of security guarantees.

"If you, The Elders community, can help us with these matters, we would greatly appreciate it," he said.

For his part, the former President of Colombia praised the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people and Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally during this brutal war.

He believes that as many countries as possible on different continents should hear the truth about the war in Ukraine.

"This war is not only yours. Because what happened to you could have happened to any country," said the ex-President of Colombia.

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón emphasized the importance of constant support for our state and maintaining the attention of the countries of the world to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the situation unacceptable when one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council commits aggression on the territory of another UN member state and international mechanisms are unable to react to it due to the existing veto power.

Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the United Nations system would find an answer to the terrible situation of human rights violations and murders in Ukraine.