News

In a meeting with the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk on 15 June in Vilnius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius said that Ukraine belonged to Europe, so the European project had not been completed without this country.

“Ukrainians are Europeans. That is an unquestionable fact and we have always stressed it, however, namely Ukrainians are responsible for their country’s success and its Euro-Atlantic integration. Their success will be determined by their dedication to reforms and the fight against corruption,” said Linkevičius.

According to Kravchuk, Ukraine has permanently chosen a European path and will never depart from it, because this is the will of the majority of Ukrainians. He thanked for Lithuania’s strong support to Kyiv during a rough time for Ukraine. Kravchuk also thanked all Western countries for maintaining a strong position towards the aggressor and for helping Ukraine.

In the meeting, Linkevičius and Kravchuk discussed the dynamics underlying the bilateral relationship, the current situation in Ukraine, the Minsk agreements, the Normandy Four talks, foreign policy processes, as well as their trends in Central and Eastern Europe.

The officials also discussed the Belovezha Accords, signed by Boris Yeltsin, Stanislav Shushkevich and Kravchuk on 8 December 1991 in Belarus. The agreement legally brought about the end of the Soviet Union. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the agreement.

In Lithuania, Kravchuk is attending events of the Day of Mourning and Hope.

Ukrainians, just like Lithuanians, have suffered mass deportations and other Soviet repressions. Millions of Ukrainians died of hunger in a man-made famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor.