KIEV: Ukraine and several European Union (EU) countries have established the so-called Kiev Initiative to build up their regional cooperation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
Zelensky named neighbours Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary as well as the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as participants and said on Monday that the door was open to other countries to join the format.
Zelensky called it "a highly promising line of our work inside the Euro-Atlantic alignment," but offered few other information, merely saying that security issues would be the focus of their partnership.
The President mentioned the second annual Crimea Platform in his video message. This summit will be conducted online on Tuesday and will contain speeches from the leaders of Germany, Japan, Canada, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
There are currently more than 50 participants from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Kiev uses the Crimea Platform, which was established last year, to rally support for the reunification of the Crimean Peninsula with Ukraine.
Although Russia annexed the strategically significant Black Sea region in 2014, it is still considered to be a part of Ukraine under international law.
Any further aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs for Russia. The president is coordinating his approach closely with transatlantic and other like-minded partners. There is no security in Europe without the security of Ukraine.
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