Dalia Grybauskaitė congratulated the Ukrainian people with visa-free travel throughout the EU coming into effect on 11 June and stated that a possibility to enjoy unrestricted travel in Europe was a huge achievement of the entire Ukraine and its people.
Ukrainians are showing an increasing interest in visa-free travels. Every day, over 20 thousand requests to change old passports to biometric ones are received compared to several thousand such requests submitted earlier. As many as 64 percent of Ukrainians have never been to Europe. According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, visa-free access to the EU will allow Ukrainians to get to know the European countries better and to establish closer people-to-people contacts.
Dalia Grybauskaitė said that visa-free travel and the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which would come into full effect soon, demonstrated that Ukraine had achieved more on the path to European integration during the last two years than during previous two decades. This is huge progress because the most important work was carried out in war conditions while defending their country. According to the President, Ukrainians made a firm decision to live in a western state in Maidan and suffered huge sacrifices to that effect.
Further implementation of structural reforms was discussed at the meeting as well. According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, the successful process of reforms is a background for strong Ukraine and the prosperity of its people. Tangible results are necessary in fighting corruption, restructuring the Office of the Prosecutor General, the judiciary and the public sector, as well as in improving and making more transparent the business environment.
The Presidents of Lithuania and Ukraine also discussed security situation. According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, geopolitical situation is not improving. Russia continues its military aggression in Luhansk and Donetsk and further cynically ignores the implementation of the Minsk agreements disregarding its own commitments. The approaching Russian wide-scale military exercise Zapad 2017, to test offensive scenarios directed against the West, raise the security threat to the entire region even higher.
President Dalia Grybauskaitė underscored that when fighting against aggression, Ukraine defends pan-European security. Lithuania strongly condemns the illegal annexation of Crimea and firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as EU sanctions against Russia. Lithuania provides Ukraine with all political, military, financial and medical assistance that it can.
As a symbol of solidarity and support for Ukraine, Dalia Grybauskaitė presented Petro Poroshenko with a periscope. The periscope was bought with donations from the Lithuanian people under the Blue/Yellow initiative and it will help to save lives of Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the trenches. The slogan “Together Until Victory!” is inscribed on the periscope in the Lithuanian and Ukrainian languages. More such periscopes will be sent to fighting Ukrainian soldiers.
During her visit to Kharkov, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will also meet with Ukrainian soldiers who received medical treatment in Lithuania. In total, 150 wounded Ukrainian soldiers underwent rehabilitation in Lithuania since 2014. Lithuania also assists Ukraine in reforming its military forces by sending army instructors and medical staff as well as military ammunition.
