During a working trip to the Dnipropetrovsk region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Kryvyi Rih with the mothers of fallen Ukrainian defenders, ATO/JFO veterans and participants of the Invictus Kryvbas project, who are competing for the honor of becoming members of the Ukrainian national team to participate in the Invictus Games.
Mykola Kolesnyk, coordinator of the working group on missing persons in Donbas and military and civilian hostages (captives), former curator of the Kryvbas Battalion, thanked the Head of State for the conversation with those who survived the Debaltseve and Ilovaisk entrapments. He also said that the previous authorities were uncomfortable to mention the Ilovaisk tragedy.
"One should not lead the columns of patriots, but be responsible for the two entrapments of the Kryvbas battalion," Mykola Kolesnyk said.
The mothers of the dead and missing participants of the war in Donbas asked the President to help launch the secretariat of the Standing Commission on Missing Persons, without which it is impossible to create search teams of Ukrainian warriors and form a single register of missing persons. Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also asked to help support the bill on the status of war prisoners and missing persons - to submit a document to the Parliament on behalf of the President as an urgent matter.
"I am ready to support this bill," the President said.
In Kryvyi Rih, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also met with US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. Together, they visited the Heroes' Park and honored the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine, laying flowers at the memorials to the fallen ATO warriors and victims of the Ilovaisk tragedy.
The President stressed that one of the most important tasks for the state is the integration of war participants into peaceful life and social environment.
"Both we and all Ukrainians after us will always be grateful to the heroes who defended Ukraine in the most difficult year of 2014, as well as in the following years. At that time, the unity of our state was really preserved thanks to the fact that everyone united, the society really stood up for the defense of Ukraine," the Head of State said.
