President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, members of the Cabinet of Ministers, representatives of the Verkhovna Rada, and state-owned companies held a briefing on the results of a meeting on the work of the government. Babel has compiled the main points from it.
The briefing was broadcast by Suspilne.
Dates of trilateral talks with the US and Russia
Ukraine is now waiting for the Americans to announce the date for a new round of trilateral talks. The negotiation process has been postponed due to the war in the Middle East.
Zelensky previously said that the trilateral meeting was initially planned for March 5-6 in Abu Dhabi. He later suggested that due to the escalation in the Middle East, it could be moved to Geneva or another city in Europe. Turkey is also among the options for the meeting.
Air defense missiles and interceptor drones
According to Zelensky, in a few days of the war in the Middle East, countries used more than 800 PAC-3 missiles for “Patriot” systems. Ukraine has never had so many missiles at the same time. Ukraine would like to “quietly” exchange with the countries of the region, “with those that can and cannot be named”: to receive missiles for “Patriot” in exchange for interceptor drones.
After the US and Israeli operation against Iran began, Gulf states began using expensive “Patriot” missiles to intercept Iranian “Shahed” suicide drones. However, their stocks are rapidly running out.
Oil prices
The “Naftogaz” Director Serhiy Koretsky said that due to the war in the Middle East, prices at Ukrainian gas stations have increased by UAH 6, but there is no panic. Currently, all companies are working to diversify supply sources — Ukraine has one of the most diversified oil supply networks.
Zelensky said that they had agreed with the state-owned “Ukrnafta” that it would operate without profit during the crisis in order to contain price increases.
“Druzhba” oil pipeline
The president said he would not restore the “Druzhba” pipeline, which was damaged by Russia, because it carries Russian oil. But the European Union has tied financial aid to Ukraine and a €90 billion loan to its restoration.
Ukraine does not block the European Commissionʼs access to the crash site, but considers its own confirmation of the destruction sufficient. Ukraine is waiting for an official request from Hungary and EU countries for access to the damaged infrastructure.
Road repair
The Prime Minister Svyrydenko said that the government plans to allocate at least an additional UAH 10 billion from the reserve fund for road repairs after the winter.
Special attention will be paid to frontline roads used for evacuation of the population and logistics. Their repair will also be financed from the budget of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The government and the military are currently determining a list of priority routes.
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