"The visits of foreign leaders to Ukraine are a sign of solidarity, which we greatly appreciate," said Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, in an interview with the Swedish news agency TT Nyhetsbyrån, expressing hope for the visit of the Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson to Kyiv.

She thanked Sweden for its humanitarian, financial and military support of Ukraine.

Unity of Ukraine

The war showed that we are united as a nation. Now our unity is unprecedented. We have managed to maintain political and institutional control, the Government and Parliament are working,as also the banking, the financial sector and the health sector.

We underestimated what we have done in recent years, the resilience we have achieved. We did not realize what a strong state we managed to build before February 24. Ukraine has a huge public support for the President and the Armed Forces, and only one goal: an unconditional victory.

EU as the next stage

The next step for Ukraine is to become an EU candidate country. The candidate status is the first formal step in the EU accession process. We look forward to the strong support of Sweden, which has always been the driver and advocate of our return to the European family.

Since the signing of the Association Agreement in 2014, we have fulfilled a significant part of our homework - more than 60% of commitments. We understand that the path to membership is a challenge. It is a declaration of solidarity that requires the political will.