WASHINGTON — Oleksandr Danylyuk, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, met top American officials at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department on July 10-11, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s anticipated visit soon with U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
Accompanying Danylyuk was Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak. They met with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, and U.S. Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker at the White House on July 10. The next day, they held meetings at the Pentagon and the State Department.
Volker’s assistant, special adviser for Ukraine negotiations, Christopher Anderson, told the Kyiv Post: “U.S. officials engaged Mr. Danylyuk across a range of issues and discussed areas of possible cooperation with Ukraine under newly elected President Zelensky. First and foremost was continued U.S. support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. In addition, the sides discussed building capable, trustworthy Ukrainian institutions that strengthen rule of law, reduce corruption, increase government accountability, create jobs, and attract investment as the surest path to economic growth, resilience, and independence in the face of external pressure. The United States looks forward to working with Ukraine to achieve these goals.”
After the meeting Bolton tweeted: “Great discussion today with Oleksandr Danylyuk … on U.S. support for Ukrainian reforms and the peaceful restoration of Ukrainian territory.” Perry is emerging as one of the key officials that the White House has appointed to keep in close contact with the Zelensky administration.
America supports Ukraine’s energy security and is unhappy with Russia’s construction, in concert with a consortium of companies, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline through the Baltic Sea that will double the existing capacity of Nord Stream 1 and allow Russia to send 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas directly to Germany.
The project bypasses Ukraine’s land-based pipelines, which supplies most of Europe’s gas bought from Russia and earns Ukraine transit revenue annually of up to $3 billion. Washington warns the new arrangement will make Western Europe hostage to Moscow’s political whims.
Perry has visited Ukraine twice, most recently leading the U.S. delegation that attended Zelensky’s May 20 inauguration on behalf of Trump. Perry, along with Volker and the director for European affairs at the National Security Council, Alexander Vindman, who all attended Zelensky’s inauguration, are among the key figures in contact with Zelensky.
Combatting corruption
The U.S. is watching whether the July 21 Ukrainian parliamentary elections will give Zelensky’s party enough seats to translate his electoral pledges into practice. His party, Servant of the People, has a commanding lead in the polls and may secure up to half of the seats in parliament. Volker has said that Ukraine’s future over the next five years will be decided in the next three months, as a new president and parliament form a new government.
Perry said in a tweet that talks with Danylyuk about “increased energy security cooperation” had been productive.
The meetings are also seen as preliminary stages to working out an agenda for Zelensky’s upcoming visit with Trump, so that the two leaders can discuss specific issues concretely such as energy and military cooperation.
No date has yet been set for Zelensky’s U.S. trip, but August or September have been mentioned by officials in Washington and Kyiv as the most likely months for the meeting.
Corruption in Ukraine is an abiding Washington concern and featured in the meetings. The American side wants reform of Ukraine’s state arms giant, UkrOboronProm, and also believes more transparency in the country’s energy sector will encourage substantial foreign direct investment, including the entry of some of the world’s biggest players in the field.
Anderson said: “As President Zelensky himself has stated, corruption remains one of Ukraine’s most significant obstacles to Ukraine achieving its Western aspirations. Helping Ukraine fight corruption has been among the core objectives of assistance from Ukraine’s friends and donor partners since the Revolution of Dignity,” also known as the EuroMaidan Revolution, which ended Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency on Feb. 22, 2014.
