Ambassador: the most important task is to keep trust in Ukraine

Here is an excerpt of the interview.

Ukrinform: It will be exactly a year since you came to Washington to represent Ukraine at the end of July. What do you think are your key achievements during this year?

Chaly: We have managed to keep Ukraine in the focus of U.S. foreign policy and divert "fatigue" from Ukraine. Because of our active efforts and coordination with our American partners we have managed to keep Ukraine in the focus of U.S. foreign policy and rather even divert "fatigue" of Ukraine despite Russian propaganda and dynamic events unfolding in the world. If we talk about specific achievements, I would have them grouped in three blocks.

First, it's not a reduction but rather strengthening of support for Ukraine by the U.S. Now it has reached an all-time high since we gained independence. The fact that the [U.S.] Congress has given us an additional $150 million is a big achievement for our diplomats among others. I personally held over 40 meetings in Congress discussing this issue. Both parties in the U.S. Congress support us politically, but when we talk about finances it immediately raises the question of their effective use since this money was received from U.S. taxpayers. We succeeded in convincing them that these additional resources will benefit not only Ukraine, but will also boost overall security in the world, and therefore the security of the United States.

The second block is working with the people. Over the past year, we have tried to respond to all requests made by Ukrainian citizens. In addition, we are dealing with the issues of rehabilitation of our injured [troops] in the U.S., and it is not only our merit, but it also belongs to the diaspora who take care of Ukrainian servicemen. The U.S. government is also greatly involved in assisting with the rehabilitation of the military. We tried to act in such a way so that no one is left unattended, and I think we have managed to accomplish the tasks.

The third block is the intensity of political dialogue and trust. To be frank, we had difficult episodes when I had to discuss complex issues with U.S. partners. These issues included the reforms of the Prosecutor’s General Office, anti-corruption measures and transparency of Ukraine's security sector. Now we have reached mutual understanding with the U.S. I think this can be also counted as our achievement, and I always said that the key question is trust in Ukraine and its leaders. In spite of all the problems that exist in our country, we have been able to retain trust so far. The degree of our future success with this task will depend primarily on internal developments in Ukraine.

TL