The United States believes that there is no military solution to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in the Donbas, but hopes Russia will finally fulfill the commitments it made in Minsk nearly four years ago, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has said.
Speaking on Jan. 28 in Kyiv at the Ukrainian Leadership Academy, a 10-month program for secondary school graduates, Yovanovitch said the United States, together with the international community, is committed to maintaining sanctions that make it too costly for Russia to continue its war against Ukraine.
“Rejecting the Minsk Agreements approach would mean rejecting our ability to impose significant economic consequences on Russia,” said Yovanovitch.
Yovanovitch also said that since 2014 Ukraine had received over $2.8 billion from the United States in “security and other kinds of assistance.”
“Just last month we committed to providing an additional $10 million to further build up Ukraine’s naval capabilities in response to Russia’s attack on Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea,” said Yovanovitch, referring to the Nov. 25 attack by Russia on three Ukrainian naval vessels in international waters of the Black Sea, and the capture of their 24 crewmembers.
Talking about economic problems, the ambassador didn’t focus solely on Donbas, rather touched upon a number of subjects in her 20 minute speech.
Yovanovitch stated that Ukraine still lacks a free and transparent market economy, with laws that do not give equal opportunities to all. “The old oligarchic elite is still playing to win, with corruption being its life-support,” said the ambassador.
Answering questions from the students of the Leadership Academy, Yovanovitch said the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention and the upcoming launch of the anti-corruption court were crucial developments.
Ukraine’s decentralization reform was an additional important step in the country’s fight against corruption, the ambassador said.
Yovanovitch also reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine in its peaceful reintegration of the currently Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas.
