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Splits emerge within Zelenskyy administration, while public questions Steinmeier formula

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KYIV – Since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s difficult trip to New York on September 24-26, a series of developments in Ukraine has generated anxiety, division and even a wave of protests. In addition, the first major split in the ranks of the Zelenskyy administration has emerged, as its most senior security official, Oleksandr Danylyuk, blew the whistle and called on the controversial head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Bohdan, to resign.
First, there was the sudden resignation at the end of last month of two key figures – the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Danylyuk. Although not directly related, their departures have raised serious concern about the circumstances in which they left and the implications for Ukraine.

Analysis

Zelenskyy’s trip to New York employs diplomacy as damage containment

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KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to New York on September 24-26 for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly and events surrounding it witnessed a whirlwind of activity and a barrage of commentary. The question in Kyiv is how has Mr. Zelenskyy emerged from this diplomatic baptism of fire and what it bodes for Ukraine.
It was a very difficult time for the Ukrainian leader to go to the U.S. and the stakes remain high. Given the intensification of the political infighting between the Democrats and the Republicans in the U.S., controversy around the Trump-Zelenskyy connection overshadowed everything else. Understandably, perhaps, but there was also more to it all than this.

Ukraine

Zelenskyy’s foreign policy faces challenges at Normandy Four and U.N. General Assembly

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KYIV – A flurry of diplomatic activity continues around events surrounding the forthcoming summit of the “Normandy Four” leaders (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine), and the separate, and now confirmed, meeting of the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents.
Ukraine’s new minister of foreign affairs, Vadym Prystaiko, indicated on September 18 that a meeting of the Normandy Four – which Ukraine had wanted to be held in September – will now probably be held in October. That same day, the White House announced that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with President Donald Trump next week in New York during the opening of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ukraine

Ukraine welcomes home 35 political prisoners in long-awaited swap of detainees with Russia

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KYIV – Moscow freed 35 Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages in an exchange involving the same number of detainees held by Kyiv because of their hostile activities on behalf of Russia.
The return to Ukraine on September 7 of the Ukrainian captives, including the internationally renowned filmmaker from Crimea, Oleh Sentsov, generated joy and hope, but also some controversy.
There were moving scenes at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport as the families and Ukraine’s president welcomed home the exhausted, relieved and still somewhat bewildered representatives of Ukraine’s current battle for its freedom. Many who were there, or were watching on TV, had tears in their eyes.

Ukraine

Zelenskyy team takes charge as new Rada begins its work

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KYIV – It has been a momentous 10 days or so in Ukrainian politics, both within and around the Verkhovna Rada. The new Parliament dominated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of People party has gotten off to a frenetic start, removing the immunity from prosecution that national deputies had enjoyed and initiating many other changes, some of which will require amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.
A new government has been created – the youngest in Europe, the prosecutor general has been replaced and a civilian has been named minister of defense. On September 4, the new Cabinet of Ministers also endorsed President Zelenskyy’s earlier request that Volodymyr Klitschko be removed from his post as head of the Kyiv City State Administration. As a result, he will remain as mayor until the next local elections but will lose some of his administrative powers.

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Kyiv attracts attention as it marks Independence Day with a different focus

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KYIV – On August 24 Ukraine celebrated the 28th Independence Day anniversary and although festivities were held all around the country, attention was focused on the capital to see how the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would impose his new style on proceedings, and what the reaction would be.
There were indeed plenty of surprises and innovations in what turned out to be a colorful yet poignant symbiosis of the new and the old.  And the occasion was not without controversy, or wonder, either.

Ukraine

Leaders of Ukraine and Israel meet in Kyiv, seeking to bolster bilateral ties

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KYIV – During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Ukraine on August 19-20, which is being hailed as “historic” by both sides, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited the two countries’ “long-standing historical ties.”
“Our nations have together experienced all the tragedies of recent history – the Holodomor and the Holocaust, the second world war, the totalitarian Soviet regime,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated.
Mr. Netanyahu, who cited “the excellent relationship between the two countries,” called for stronger ties between Israel and Ukraine, emphasizing, “We can seize the future separately, but we can do it better together.”

Ukraine

The battle for Kyiv intensifies as Zelenskyy seeks to oust Klitschko

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KYIV – The acrimonious political contest for control of Kyiv between the new Ukrainian president’s team and Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his defenders has been intensified and prolonged. It has also assumed an international dimension that is embarrassing, if not damaging, to the country’s image.
On the surface it would appear to be a case of the victor in Ukraine’s presidential election, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose Servant of the People party subsequently captured all of the single “majority” constituencies in the city, calling on a representative of a defeated political force to take heed of the popular mood and to step aside, and the latter digging his heels in.

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Zelenskyy administration tries to find its footing in the foreign policy sphere

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KYIV – The killing of four Ukrainian soldiers on August 6 by shelling from Russian-backed forces in the Donbas during the latest proclaimed ceasefire has precipitated a flurry of diplomatic activity from official Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called his Russian counterpart the following day to express his disgust and reached out to Ukraine’s German and French partners in the Normandy group of leaders to request an urgent meeting at the highest level. He also called the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson.

News

Zelenskyy and Servant of the People party prepare for new Parliament’s convocation

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KYIV – As the implications of the historic landslide victory by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party sink in, important clues and details have been emerging about how its leaders see their next steps, priorities and challenges.

The crucial issue for them at this stage is to have the new Verkhovna Rada in place as soon as is possible and for their victorious and majority party to put its representatives in key positions both within the Parliament and in the new government. Only then will it be possible to move ahead with promised new laws and a revamping of institutions and policies.