ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday announced that he signed a decree appointing Olha Stefanishyna as Kyiv’s new ambassador to the US.

“I just spoke with Olha Stefanishyna, now the new Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States of America. The formal procedures are complete, (and) today I signed a decree on the appointment of the ambassador,” Zelenskyy said in an evening video address.

Zelenskyy said that he identified key tasks for updating the work of Ukraine’s Embassy in Washington, as well as to implement all agreements reached with the US, primarily in the defense sector.

“In many ways, the long-term guarantee of Ukraine’s security depends on relations with America,” Zelenskyy said, adding that there are two Ukrainian proposals, namely an arms deal for Ukraine and an agreement on drones for the US.

“And we are counting on rapid progress in relations,” Zelenskyy went on to say, expressing his gratitude to Oksana Markarova, who has held the post of Ukrainian ambassador to the US since February 2021, for her work.

He suggested that she continue to be on Ukraine’s team, without further elaboration on Markarova’s potential new role.

Zelenskyy signed a decree last month appointing Stefanishyna as presidential envoy for developing cooperation with the US until “necessary procedures” continue to approve her as Kyiv’s new ambassador to Washington.

He also reported on the meetings of head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Andriy Yermak and National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov in Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the past two days, which he said touched on "mediation."

The Ukrainian president said the two top officials will hold talks in Switzerland on Thursday, and later with US President Donald Trump’s team in New York the following day, noting that all those who are working on the content of security guarantees for Ukraine will be involved.

“The task is to accelerate as much as possible so that this is also a lever – a lever of influence. The Russians need to see how seriously the world is taking it and how bad the consequences will be for Russia if the war continues,” he added.

Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the plans, that Yermak and Umerov will meet with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff “this week.”

According to the report, the agenda of the talks is to focus on security assurances for Kyiv and a potential bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.