The new Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, will begin her full-fledged work this Friday. The ambassador announced this during a discussion within the framework of the LB and EFI Group project New Country.
Among other tasks, Stefanishyna wants to focus on countering the legitimisation of Russia’s presence. This refers to various manifestations – in particular, inviting representatives of the aggressor country to appear in the media.
“I would like to draw attention to one aspect that was not part of the diplomatic service’s work and is becoming a new challenge for me as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States. Literally on my way here, I saw Kirill Dmitriev’s very complimentary appearance on Fox News prime time, where he talked about Russian minerals, the attractiveness of the Russian economy, and investments,” Stefanishyna said.
This is happening against the backdrop of the Russian ambassador’s return to the United States and the opening of Russian churches there. The reality has changed not only in terms of the United States’ role in ending the war, but also in terms of legitimising Russia’s presence in the United States.
She noted that Russia’s main goal is to achieve its objectives covertly – not at public events, but on the way to them.
“The meeting in Alaska is a pretext for participating in events that took place in Beijing,” she believes.
In Beijing, as is well known, Vladimir Putin took part in a military parade and discussed strengthening cooperation with both China and North Korea. The US regarded this as a conspiracy.
Any agreements that Ukraine is currently forming with the US are great opportunities, Stefanishyna added. Similar to the agreements on minerals, Ukraine wants to agree on trade and the protection of American investments.
“By realising every opportunity for peace and for the economy, we understand that our enemies’ appetite is tenfold. I want to draw attention to this,” she said.
Stefanishyna believes that “the diplomatic front is opening up in the American direction”, and this is a cold war.
“We must ensure that European countries can purchase American weapons and that American weapons are sold to Ukraine. Second, we must agree on security guarantees,” the ambassador said.
She added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a conversation with Andriy Yermak that agreements on security guarantees have already been formed. According to Stefanishyna, security guarantees are no longer just discussions, but reality.
The third focus is American investment.