First Deputy Prime Minister meeting with a delegation of the Atlantic Council of the United States and the Polish Institute of International Affairs

On March 6, the meeting of Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema with Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council of the United States Damon Wilson, U.S. Atlantic Council advisor Ian Brzezinski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs Marcin Zaborowski and Polish Institute of International Affairs analyst Ievgen Vorobiov took place at the Government House.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the current events in Ukraine, in particular, the issue of the Russian- Ukrainian conflict in Crimea.

Vitaly Yarema underlined that “Ukraine and its people has been experiencing difficult times that are associated with a change in government and those crimes that Yanukovych's government has committed against his own people”. “Today we have a new challenge, even more serious - external aggression by the Russian Federation", the politician added.

Damon Wilson and Ian Brzezinski expressed the need and willingness to support Ukraine by its Western partners. Special attention has been paid to the development of EU-U.S. "roadmap" in order to support Ukraine.

Speaking about work done by the Ukrainian government, Vitaliy Yarema said that "the main task of the new government is the immediate establishment of peace in Ukraine, prompt investigation of crimes committed by the previous government and the establishment of democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine."

Finally, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine thanked for their support in this difficult time. "Today, any support from international institutions, especially those that have great influence in the world is extremely important to us," he said. The politician added that in recent days, only due to pressure from international organizations, the Russian side has lowered rate of its aggression, which was observed in first days.