President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada who managed to leave Ukraine (and there are 23 of them, according to the National Security and Defense Council) must return within 24 hours. In his opinion, it is the parliamentarians who should show how important unity is. The politician also expressed the opinion that the movement of embassies from Kiev is a "big mistake" of foreign states. Zelensky urged Ukrainians to return back within a day. First of all, he turned to politicians and oligarchs. The politician voiced this call at a briefing after negotiations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The fact that the deputies of "some parties" left Ukraine is a "serious challenge," Zelensky is sure. Therefore, the country's authorities "give them a signal." “On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada, from the speaker, from the state, and on my own behalf, I would like to ask them to bring some of their relatives within 24 hours so that they still return to the country,” the Ukrainian leader.
Otherwise, all representatives of the supreme power will have to "draw serious conclusions." “And, believe me, we will definitely do them,” Zelensky promised, without specifying whether any measures would be taken against politicians.
He expressed the opinion that parliamentarians should show the people by their own example that it is necessary to maintain unity. He acknowledged that his country is still in Ukraine.
“You can’t say that we are patriots, and then move our offices to Lviv, or Warsaw, or the Czech Republic, or the USA, because there is such a team. I think that this is not fair, then you are patriots of another country,” he added, referring not only to diplomats and politicians, but also to the media.
Outside of Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), there are 23 deputies. This was announced by the secretary of the department Alexei Danilov. He hopes that lawmakers will have time to return by 11 am Tuesday, when they have a meeting of the Rada. Danilov also drew attention to the fact that "the situation is under control" and there are no prerequisites for the "invasion" of Russia on February 16-17.
In the case of Ukrainian businessmen who left the country, the Ukrainian authorities are powerless, Zelensky stated. “I believe that they have already made their sentence for themselves, but I think that they should return to their enterprises, to tens of thousands of people who work for them and for the state,” the politician recalled.
He remarked that these "people from serious industrial business" chose "this way". “They were all participants in privatization, the state also gave them something. I believe it gave them a great chance."
A day earlier, Ukrayinska Pravda reported that major Ukrainian businessmen were leaving the country on charter flights – about 20 charters and private planes left Kyiv in a day.
Entrepreneurs began to leave from the end of January this year, when Western countries began to escalate the situation around Ukraine. Among them are businessmen who occupy the first lines in the Ukrainian Forbes rating. According to Ukrayinska Pravda sources, Igor Abramovich, a member of the Opposition Platform - For Life, ordered a plane to take relatives of his fellow party members and business partners to Vienna.
Not only residents of the country are leaving Ukraine, but also diplomats. Many countries called on their diplomatic staff and compatriots to leave Ukrainian territory because of the allegedly impending "Russian invasion."
According to Zelensky, such countries are making a “big mistake” by sending their embassies “to Western Ukraine.” “Because there is no Western Ukraine, there is Ukraine, it is whole. Therefore, if, God forbid, something happens, it will be everywhere. You can’t be away from escalation and problems in five or six hours [of a ride],” the head of Ukraine is sure.
On February 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the country's authorities are considering taking their diplomatic representatives out of Ukraine.
“By the way, we have already thought for ourselves: maybe it is the Anglo-Saxons who are preparing something if they evacuate their employees? We also looked at their actions and, probably, we will also advise non-essential personnel of our diplomatic institutions to leave home for a while, ”he said after a conversation with his British colleague Liz Truss.
bbabo.Net