Ukrainian speaker in Vilnius: We should achieve withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine

In an interview to BNS and the Lithuanian parliament’s TV, he emphasized that one of the key objectives today was to pool the efforts with the international community to achieve that Russian troops leave Eastern Ukraine, regardless of its denial of presence in the armed conflict.

“We must achieve that Russian troops leave the Ukrainian territory, you know there are scores of evidence of (presence of) the Russian troops and equipment, tanks, armored transporters (BTR) and missiles. In the declaration today, we stated that Russian troops and their fighters and their ‘wild’ weapons should go home and start making order in their country rather than engage in defense of some alleged and difficult-to-explain things, such as the Russian language,” said Groisman.

“I have always stressed – Ukraine has no problems with the Russian language. Ukraine has problems with the Russian army and the Russian president’s aggression,” he stressed.

Speaking about the reforms in Ukraine, the parliamentary speaker said his country was currently on the path to major changes.

“Over the 24 years of our independence, we, unfortunately, failed to conduct systematic and structural reforms, which were, for instance, implemented in Lithuania and our neighboring Poland. We have to break down the corrupt and centralized system that formed over the 24 years and build a European system, curb corruption and ensure confidence in courts,” said Groisman who was in Vilnius to attend a session of the Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian Parliamentary Assembly.