By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko left the United States on Thursday buoyed by what she called positive talks with top U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying she found him to be supportive of her war-torn country.
Svyrydenko told Reuters that she used the meeting with Bessent to hammer home Ukraine’s position that sanctions imposed against Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago should not be weakened, waived or postponed.
Washington temporarily lifted some sanctions on Russian oil to help cope with supply shortages caused by the Iran war, but they are now back in effect.
“I think Secretary Bessent stands with Ukraine and stands for Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in her only media interview during her visit to the United States for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
“It was very friendly discussion, and he’s very supportive,” she said. “I think that all our counterparts here in the United States … understand it perfectly well: that to prevent the circumvention of the sanctions, and also to strengthen the sanctions is an extremely important measure that should be taken to make Russia weaker.”
U.S. and Ukrainian officials met last month in Florida for talks on ending the war with Russia, but hopes have dimmed for an early agreement. Ukraine has insisted that it needs security guarantees in place before agreeing to any peace deal.
“I dream that this war will end, but it will end … with the proper security guarantees, the proper prosperity plan, with a proper plan for the reconstruction and the recovery,” Svyrydenko said. “That would give the opportunity for Ukrainians to live the life that they deserve because they have been fighting so hard.”
WORK ON JOINT INVESTMENT FUND DEEPENED TIES
Svyrydenko said ties between Ukraine and the U.S. had deepened over the past year through joint work on the U.S.-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund, which last month approved its first project and is expected to approve a second – in the energy sector – this summer.
The prime minister, who previously served as economy minister, said she hoped the fund could be scaled up to approve more than the initial target of three projects this year, noting that over 200 applications had been received thus far.
Svyrydenko also cited progress with the IMF on an $8 billion loan approved in February, and said the IMF would send a staff mission to Kyiv in May. She said the IMF understood that Ukraine needed more flexibility in some cases and was ready to support that.
The IMF eased some conditions in February, acknowledging that conditions had worsened considerably during constant Russian attacks that crippled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this winter.
Overall, she said she felt a sense of renewed support after two days of nonstop meetings in Washington. “During this visit, I felt that everybody was very supportive,” she said.
“My first reflection after two days is that it’s changed,” she added, noting that the mood was more constructive than in previous encounters.
Ukraine also got a welcome boost in a statement issued after a meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of Seven nations, who vowed to continue to aid Ukraine, including helping it prepare for next winter.
Svyrydenko said Ukraine hoped that elections in Hungary that swept Prime Minister Viktor Orban from power would help unlock a 20th package of European Union sanctions against Russia as well as a 90 billion euro ($105 billion) loan from the EU that Hungary had blocked.
She said it could also spell good news for Ukraine’s “irreversible” push to join the EU. “All Ukrainians feel themselves like part of the EU family, and I think they deserve to be there. So now is the right time for us to move faster and to have the fast track for our EU integration,” she said.
($1 = 0.8492 euros)
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
