The Ukrainian leadership has received “strong support” from the United States, the war-torn country's President Petro Poroshenko told journalists after talks with President Donald Trump in the White House on June 20.
The meeting was their first after Trump’s victory in last year's presidential election. Kyiv, which openly supported Hillary Clinton during the race, was anxious that Trump’s election could weaken Washington's political, diplomatic and financial support as Ukraine remains locked in political conflict with Russia.
“We received strong support [...] of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of our state, as well as support in the continuation of reforms in
Ukraine,” Poroshenko’s media office quoted him as saying. “The agenda [of the talks] was really broad. I am fully satisfied with the results of the negotiations and grateful to President Trump, Vice President [Mike] Pence and the Secretaries I met for their very strong support of our state.”
The Poroshenko-Trump meeting was originally described by the White House as a brief “drop-in”, media reports said on June 20. However, the two presidents posed for photographs in the Oval Office and made brief remarks following Poroshenko’s more extensive meetings with Pence and the administration’s top national security advisers.
The Ukrainian leader’s visit to Washington took place against a background of moves to expand US sanctions against Russia. US authorities on June 20 added to the sanctions list new individuals, officials, and companies allegedly involved with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and in fuelling the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region.
Trump said during the meeting it was a “great honour” to meet Poroshenko and that “a lot of progress has been made” in the US relationship with Ukraine.
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