On May 26, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Melnyk held a meeting with the delegation of the Atlantic Council, consisting of the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, Ambassador John E.Herbst, the vice-chair of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, senior fellow of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, head of International and Defense Affairs at BGR Group, former US Ambassador to NATO, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, senior fellow of the Atlantic Council Adrian Karatnycky, the George F. Kennan senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international diplomacy at Columbia University Stephen Sestanovich, the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia and member of the American Academy of Diplomacy Philip D.Zelikow and the deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center Shelby Magid. The delegation arrived was in Kyiv on a working visit.
Andrii Melnyk thanked the representatives of the Atlantic Council for their consistent commitment and support to Ukraine and their active efforts to advocate the interests of our country on international platforms at high professional level.
The Deputy Minister also expressed his gratitude to the American side for the unprecedented financial and defense assistance provided by the United States that was effectively used to stabilize and to protect our state from armed aggression by the Russian Federation, as well as to train the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
During the conversation, the strategic importance of Ukraine's membership in NATO for strengthening European security and the importance of making appropriate decisions within the framework of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius for the further advancement of our country through Euro-Atlantic integration were discussed.
The interlocutors also exchanged views on the prospects of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine as a result of Russia's war of aggression with assistance of foreign partners, instruments of public-private partnership, as well as the use of Russian assets seized abroad for this purpose.
Within the framework of this meeting, the parties also discussed the current geopolitical and geoeconomic changes in the world, formed particularly as a result of Russia's unprovoked aggression, including the role of our state in the new world system, which was gained thanks to the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people.