President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Alexander Schallenberg and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Ivan Korčok during their visit to our country.
The visit is initiated by the Czech Republic as the presiding country within the Slavkov format, which unites the three European countries.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy briefed the foreign ministers on the security situation and Ukraine's initiatives to intensify the Minsk process and the work in the Normandy format.
"It is very important that you’ve visited the JFO area and personally observed the situation on the ground," the President stressed.
The ministers expressed their unanimous support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, emphasizing its full and indisputable right to independently determine ways to ensure its own security and to choose defense alliances.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed the importance of strengthening the defense support for our state.
“I am grateful to each of you, your countries, for your support and concrete assistance to Ukraine," he said.
The Head of State commended the fact that the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia have a full-fledged diplomatic presence in Kyiv and that these countries refrain from evacuating the families of diplomats.
The President stressed the importance of further deepening economic integration between Ukraine and the European Union and expanding access of Ukrainian goods to the EU market, in particular by using the opportunities to update the trade part of the Association Agreement.
Jan Lipavský, Alexander Schallenberg and Ivan Korčok expressed the unanimous opinion that the security of Ukraine is inseparable from the security of Europe and without achieving peace in our country it is impossible to achieve stability on the continent.