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Abigail Dougherty
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been offered to meet with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine has offered for Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to meet its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, next month.
On TVNZ’s Breakfast on Tuesday, Ukraine Ambassador to New Zealand Vasyl Myroshnychenko said about a month ago Zelensky put the offer on the table for the meeting before a Nato summit in Europe.
“It was a very good conversation and the president has conveyed an invitation to visit Kyiv, and I believe that will be a unique opportunity,” he said.
“Every trip that a foreign dignitary can make to Kyiv at this time is a way to show support for Ukraine, it’s a way to show solidarity with Ukrainian people, and the Ukrainian people are very grateful for what is coming from New Zealand,” Myroshnychenko said.
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“I think visiting Ukraine is a unique opportunity, especially since the prime minister will already be in Europe, and it will very much be valued by Ukrainians who are now fighting and dying in the east trying to liberate Ukraine and defend democracy.”
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to meet with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in July.
Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was invited to Kyiv while she was on a trade mission in Europe last year, but declined due to a scheduling conflict. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited around the same time, and other leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have also travelled to Ukraine.
Russia recently launched a pre-dawn air raid on Ukraine’s capital, killing at least one person and sending Kyiv’s residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments.
Myroshnychenko said Zelensky would be “delighted” to welcome Hipkins the day before or after the summit.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ office has been contacted for comment.
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