Free Republic

Ukrainians! Defenders! Every year on June 1 we celebrate Children's Day. A special day when adults pay special attention to the rights of children, safety and development of our kids. But since February 24, everything has changed in our country. And literally every day now is a day of protection for us. Protection of all our people, children, our future. Protection of a free country where every child can, when he or she grows up, live the life he or she wants. Without coercion and oppression. Everyone sees what Russia brings to Ukraine and what it wants to bring to...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with a speech condemning Russia's "completely irresponsible actions" around nuclear power plants during its invasion and calling for "global control" of the Kremlin's nuclear capabilities. [cut] Zelenskyy noted that International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met with him in Kyiv to commemorate the Chernobyl disaster and pledge his support. "We discussed all the dangers created by Russia and ways to possibly influence the situation to protect Europe and the world from completely irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation," the president said. He then called...

The World Bank will provide Ukraine with $4.8 billion for recovery following a roundtable talk held in Washington on April 21 along with the Ukrainian government, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said. "Yesterday, during a ministerial roundtable talk, I turned to the World Bank. The result is $4.8 billion for the restoration of Ukraine," the head of state said on Instagram. He thanked that Ukraine "is heard and supported." "With such help, we will be able to quickly restore the country," Zelensky said. As reported, the president of Ukraine, in his speech at this roundtable talk via video link,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered on Wednesday to swap pro-Kremlin oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who was arrested by Kyiv after escaping house arrest, for Ukrainians captured by Russia. 'I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this guy of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity,' Zelensky said in a video address posted on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday. 'And may Medvedchuk be an example for you. Even the former oligarch did not escape. What can we say about much simpler criminals from the Russian hinterland? We will get everyone.' Ukrainian authorities on...

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has rejected a request by the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to visit Kyiv along with other European politicians on Wednesday. Steinmeier, a former foreign minister and erstwhile ally of the ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder, is on a state visit in Poland, where he is discussing the implications of the Russian war in Ukraine with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. According a report in the German newspaper Bild, Steinmeier had planned to travel to Kyiv with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on Wednesday. However, his request for a meeting was rejected by Zelenskiy, with Bild...