European Council President Charles Michel’s visit to Ukraine, which is scheduled for May 12–13, has been postponed indefinitely because of the quarantine restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Petro Beshta, the director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ political directorate, announced this to the Ukrainian News Agency.
“European Council President Charles Michel’s visit to Ukraine was planned for May 12-13,” he said.
According to him, the new date of this visit will be agreed upon after stabilization of the coronavirus epidemic.
In total, visits to Ukraine by five foreign politicians have been cancelled in the period of April-May due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore was scheduled to visit Ukraine in early April.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Bondar held a telephone conversation with Gilmore on May 6, and the parties will agree a new date for the visit after the coronavirus situation stabilizes.
Swedish Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen was scheduled to pay an official visit to Kyiv on April 7-9 and Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist on May 5-7.
Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Gecheva-Zakharieva was scheduled to visit Ukraine on May 14-16, but the visit has been postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus situation.
In addition to visits to Ukraine by foreign officials, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was scheduled to attend a ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership initiative (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Armenia) in Brussels (Belgium) on May 11.
"Holding the meeting via a videoconference is being discussed. The dates are being determined," Beshta said.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported earlier, five senior foreign officials canceled visits to Ukraine scheduled for March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell canceled a visit to Ukraine scheduled for March 15-17 and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer canceled a visit scheduled for March 16-20.
President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, and President of Switzerland Simonetta Sommarugi also cancelled visits to Ukraine scheduled for March 19-20, 20-21, and 24-26, respectively.
Foreign Affairs Minister Kuleba canceled all scheduled overseas visits, including a visit to Brussels (Belgium) scheduled for March 22 to meet with the informal “Group of Friends of European Ukraine in the European Parliament” and a visit to Budapest scheduled for March 26 to meet with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.