Je suis Volnovakha

A brief retelling of the speech of Petro Poroshenko in Davos

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at the World Economic Forum in Davos made a 20-minute speech. Russian officials of the highest rank Poroshenko did not hear: this time neither Russian President Vladimir Putin, nor Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, did not go to Switzerland. Medusa carefully listened to Poroshenko to understand how Ukraine is trying to present a conflict in the southeast of Ukraine to the world community. Poroshenko’s opinion on all key issues does not coincide with the opinion of Russian officials.

Petro Poroshenko spoke English and without a piece of paper. His speech was very emotional, several times his voice was almost breaking away. The President of Ukraine performed in a jacket with two icons, on one of them there was a flag of Ukraine, on the other - the inscription "Je Suis Volnovakha" . Below is a retelling of what he said.

I performed at Davos exactly a year ago. Since then, a lot has changed, as if another life began, and not only in Ukraine, but throughout the world. In Ukraine, not only negative things took place, but also positive: for example, democratic elections were held in the country, an association agreement was signed. In the fall, parliamentary elections took place. It was not easy to do this because of the war, but subsequent events showed that the election was the right step.

As a result, now we have a completely different country - we have never been so one. Prior to this, Ukraine was a fragmented state, but now we have a common opinion on many issues, including on language or religion issues. We are ready to hold a referendum on any issue, including the issue of regions or language status.

Now Ukraine is an object of aggression. The point is not only about the annexation of Crimea, but also that part of our territory is occupied. We fully fulfilled the terms of the Minsk agreements [on a truce in the southeast of Ukraine] and thought that the separatists supported by Russia would do the same. But in January, they again moved to attacking actions. We do not attack, we defend ourselves. We protect our country.

Ukraine urges Russia to close the border, stop supporting terrorists with weapons and ammunition, and withdraw troops from the territory of Ukraine. Now on the territory of Ukraine nine thousand Russian military. If this is not aggression, then what?

I was on the march against terrorism in Paris. A few days later, a tragedy occurred in Ukraine - a Russian missile hit a regular bus near Volnovakha . I brought a piece of this bus with me. For me, this is a symbol of a terrorist attack. As the whole world was said by Je Suis Charlie, so we say Je Suis Volnovakha in Ukraine. We are not afraid.

What is needed to win? We must show solidarity with Ukraine and believe in it. I am the president of the world, not war. We are fighting for European security and European values.

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Answering the questions, Poroshenko thanked the forum participants in Davos for the investment and noted the next detail: last year, according to him, in Davos, only one participant in the Ukrainian delegation spoke English, only one does not say in this.

He also touched on the issue of energy security: according to Poroshenko, Ukraine will be able to completely stop the purchase of gas in Russia in two years. This will be done due to the program to reduce gas consumption, the development of shale deposits and fuel procurement in Europe, in particular, Norway.