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Yatsenyuk: The 2014 reforms gave Ukraine the resources to survive in 2022
11.02.26

When Putin annexed Crimea and deployed troops in Donbas in 2014, the state treasury held $10,000, the army was basically non-existent, and the country was deeply infiltrated by Russian agents. This was stated by the Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-2016, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, on the Kyiv Post's Off the Record podcast with Canadian Ambassador Natalka Cmoc.

‘Twelve years ago, Putin illegally annexed Crimea. Then he deployed his proxy forces and troops in the east of Ukraine. At that very moment, I was taking the oath of office as Prime Minister of Ukraine, and the state treasury had... ten thousand dollars to cover the entire country,’ Yatsenyuk emphasised.

The former prime minister added that the emptied treasury was only the visible part of the problem. "We had no army, no police, no local authorities, and basically no central government. The country was in ruins and deeply infiltrated by Russian agents. At that time, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine was a Russian citizen. The Minister of Defence was also a Russian citizen. It was a completely pro-Russian environment. And despite this, we survived. Having no combat-ready army, we were able to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP," Yatsenyuk emphasised.

The Chairman of the KSF explained how these reforms played a decisive role during the full-scale invasion. ‘We laid the foundation for a strong, stable and secure Ukraine. It was a kind of shelter – not a military one, but a strong shelter for the Ukrainian nation. This is what allowed us to withstand the full-scale invasion of 2022,’ Yatsenyuk emphasised.

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© Arseniy Yatsenyuk Charity Foundation "Open Ukraine"
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