Kuchma resigns, Kuchma assumes the same position. Former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, who resigned from the position of the Donbass Contact Group Envoy a few months ago, becomes the new envoy, this time at the request of the new president, Zelensky. Today, the latter introduced his appointee and said that he had some new ideas regarding a solution to the conflict in the south-east.
Andrey Grigoryev on how the new ideas are going to be implemented by the old staff.
The sixth president, Vladimir Zelensky, attended the first briefing of his administration together with the second one, Leonid Kuchma. He'll be representing Ukraine in Donbass talks again.
Vladimir Zelensky: And where's your applause?
Leonid Kuchma: Yeah, what about applause? Sorry for that.
- That's okay. I'm glad that Mr. Kuchma has joined us.
- I don't even have an international passport.
- That's okay, you can have mine. Our group already has some specific proposals.
They're going to present their proposals on June 5th, when Minsk will hold a new round of talks.
Leonid Kuchma, former president of Ukraine: "I couldn't refuse an offer like this. There's another aspect that surprises me, the war within Ukraine has become an even more pressing matter. In my life, I'm used to making decisions, implementing them, and bearing the responsibility. Today's meeting with the president has shown that I have an opportunity to make a difference, to stop being a ceremonial bystander."
The DPR announced that they don't expect any changes, the LPR said that Kuchma doesn't decide anything. He used to lead the group until 2018 and didn't reach any kind of solution.
In addition, Ukraine continues to wage war on its own history. The administration of Kharkov wanted to give back the Soviet name to Marshal Zhukov Avenue. However, the Ukrainian nationalists weren't willing to engage in dialogue. In response, they brutally smashed the sculpture of the Soviet marshal in the middle of the city.
Meanwhile, President Zelensky was partying at the concert of a popular Ukrainian musician, Monatik. The situation was commented on by his freshly appointed press secretary. She claims that since Marshal Zhukov fought the Nazi occupation his monument wasn't to be demolished and it all happened accidentally. On the other hand, a monument to a collaborated and Banderite, Shukhevych, was intentionally built in Ivano-Frankovsk, even though Poland and Israel had already expressed their protests. Yulia Mendel calls the protests of Russian politicians interference in the affairs of a sovereign state. But here's what she said about Russia and Ukraine just recently, before she was hired by the administration.
Yulia Mendel, Zelensky's Spokesperson: "The situation's better in Russia; they have at least an idea of statehood and defend it. In Ukraine, politicians don't care about being consistent. They're ready to be flexible".
Many Ukrainian officials are demonstrating how flexible they can be. Mikheil Saakashvili has just returned and is settling in his house in the suburbs of Kiev.
- I saw a pizza.
- That's a khachapuri. I don't have a kitchen and I don't have a lady yet.
- Oh, you've got wine.
The former prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the one who started the war in Donbass, fled the country with his entire family. His kids and parents got US residence permits, while Yatsenyuk and his wife got the citizenship of the island state of Vanuatu in Melanesia.
Andrey Grigoryev, Anna Kolk, and Arina Bogoroditskaya, Vesti.
