Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he had turned to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven with a request for help from Stockholm in rebuilding the infrastructure in Ukraine's Donbas region
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th December, 2019) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he had turned to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven with a request for help from Stockholm in rebuilding the infrastructure in Ukraine's Donbas region.Lofven arrived in Kiev on an official visit on Wednesday.
"Today, I asked the prime minister for further assistance from Sweden in restoring the infrastructure of our country and it is very important for us to restore infrastructure in Donbas," Zelenskyy said during a joint briefing, as broadcast by the Nash tv channel.
The president added that he had also called on Sweden to increase its business presence in Ukraine.
"We are very interested in large-scale projects on alternative and renewable energy, energy security, agriculture, the IT sector, and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.
Kiev and Stockholm also agreed to attract Swedish investors in the waste management sector in major Ukrainian cities, the head of the country added.
The conflict in Donbas began in 2014 when the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which had refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that came to power after what they considered to be a coup. A ceasefire deal between the warring parties was signed in Minsk a year later, following the talks brokered by the leaders of the so-called Normandy Four group France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Despite this agreement, however, sporadic fighting continues in Donbas.
Zelenskyy has been saying that peace in the region is one of the main goals of his presidency and that he is ready to sacrifice ratings and popularity to achieve it.
