Yelchenko: Powerful group of Ukraine’s friends formed at UN

"Without exaggeration, we have managed to form a powerful group of friends of Ukraine, which is extremely important for countering Russian aggression. Particularly productive was the work of the Ukrainian delegation in 2015 -2017 when Ukraine was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council ... During those two years, we won authority at the UN that helps us to cooperate with other countries now, in particular, concerning their support for our initiatives," Former Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, newly appointed Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Volodymyr Yelchenko, said in an interview with Ukrinform.

He mentions among the friends of Ukraine "our main strategic partners", namely the United States and the United Kingdom, all countries of the European Union, Poland, the Baltic countries, Turkey. "Although Ankara is building partnership with the Russian Federation, its stance on Crimea and Donbas is firm and clear-cut," Yelchenko noted.

According to him, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, non-EU European countries, including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, also belong to the circle of friends of Ukraine. “There is only one country in Europe which votes against all Ukrainian resolutions cynically and chronically. It’s Serbia. Although it considers EU membership its strategic goal, as well as Ukraine does, Serbia takes a frankly pro-Russian position, and not only in the Ukrainian issue," the ambassador said.

Yelchenko also regards most Central America countries as friends of Ukraine. "Latin America is a huge reserve of our support, not least because of powerful Ukrainian diaspora that has certain influence on the policies of these countries," Yelchenko added.

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