businesspeople-from-ukraine

"Most people think that business drives charity initiatives, but for me, charity drives business pushing it forward."

"I remember the feeling of hunger the most. Not just the physical hunger I felt as a kid, but the deep hunger to change my life. I wanted to escape the grayness that surrounded me, to replace it with something bright, meaningful, and full of color and purpose."

"What we do with MEGA is we adapt the games to the local climates and it’s very easy because it comes from casual gaming."

"We want to ensure Jewish children and families worldwide have the opportunity to connect to Jewish tradition and identity."

"Both the first and second Maidans were directed against former Donetsk governor Viktor Yanukovych, leader of Donbass and of non-nationalist, centrist political forces. His position enjoyed substantial electoral support as the people of Ukraine demonstrated little interest in becoming an ‘Anti-Russia’. President Viktor Yushchenko, who came in the wake of the first Maidan, very quickly lost the confidence of the people, for the most part, because of his anti-Russian policies. The elections after the second Maidan were won by Pyotr Poroshenko, who promised peace with Russia in a week. Thus, he was elected as a peacemaker president. Nevertheless, he became a president of war, failed to implement the Minsk Agreements, and miserably lost the next election. He was replaced by Vladimir Zelensky, who also promised peace, but became the personification of war. So, the Ukrainian people were twice promised peace and then deceived. Having gained power under the rhetoric of peacemaking, Zelensky is the second Ukrainian leader who has taken an extremely radical position."

"Language is simply another bullet in Russia’s hybrid war."

"Freedom is now in Ukrainians’ DNA. And the problem is that the Russian elite does not understand this."

"Kobolyev is “as clean as they come,” saying he had been “fearless and determined to sort of shake everything up.”"

"Kobolyev is “a stalwart reformer” and “a rare Ukrainian in power who never stopped fighting corrupt efforts to benefit the well-connected at the expense of the Ukrainian people.”"

"Kobolyev is one of the most remarkable anti-corruption leaders in Ukraine."

"The Russians and Putin have always believed Europe can never survive without Russian oil. ... Putin thinks if he wins in Ukraine, the Kremlin will be forgiven because there is no alternative, and the west is weak. That is how he thinks, how Gazprom thinks, and how Rosneft thinks. That is how they see the world. That is why Putin personally controls the energy trade. It is his sacred cash cow. ...There is a Russian proverb: a sacred place is never empty for long."

"However, shifting gas sales, for example, to Chinese markets is not possible. ... In the case of China, it might take 10 to 15 years to build the infrastructure. The existing pipeline to China is small and is not connected to the areas currently supplying Europe. To lose your biggest, most lucrative market, to lose 80% of your revenues, and become fully dependent on China, does not look like a very smart or strategic move. That does not look like a victory."

"Moreover, the EU's Green Deal, which commits the bloc to become carbon-neutral by 2050, means the balance of bargaining power has shifted decisively from fossil fuel producers to consumers. European governments must use that advantage to sanction Russian energy exports in a way that will not damage their economies. The best approach is the tried and tested Iranian sanction model: natural gas can flow from Gazprom to Europe. However, all proceeds are kept in special escrow accounts in European banks until Russia meets certain conditions."

"Beyond the military domain, the most obvious target for such retaliation is Russian energy exports, which account for roughly 36 percent of the country's total budget revenues, most of which are used to fund military expenditure. Europe should move fast to replace Russian energy supplies permanently."

"There is no reason for the EU not to place an immediate embargo on supplies of Russian LNG and petroleum products. Russia's energy stranglehold has lasted for too long. This step will save lives, and not only in Ukraine."

"A lot of populist politicians began to use it as a tool to discredit reforms and to increase their rating in the year of double elections. ... Now I will give my salary and bonuses in equal proportions to three Ukrainian organizations – “Narodny tyl” supporting the families of the dead warriors, “Come back alive” supporting the army, [MIM] and “Tabletochky” to help children with cancer."

"This plan enabled Ukraine to achieve two goals: create the independent GTS operator in line with European rules and protect the country's interests in the arbitration proceedings against Gazprom."

"Even if Russia gives guarantees, I believe the likelihood of Russia helping us is zero."

"“Every Saturday, they would run shows saying how bad Naftogaz is, what a bad person Kobolyev is” (Andriy Kobolyev said to the Wall Street Journal about a Firtash-controlled television station called Inter started airing negative coverage about Kobolyev. “In Ukraine, those favors don't come for free. If you want a TV channel which is a propaganda channel to promote you, that comes at a cost,” he said."

"The construction and launch of Nord Stream 2 are nothing but part of Putin's plan to wage war against Ukraine. He wanted to give up transit through our country so that any further invasion would not affect Russian gas sales to Europe."

"Naftogaz was mostly used as an instrument to do two things: firstly, to bribe the electorate through the huge prepaid subsidies, and secondly for corrupt practices."

"Every day for Naftogaz is like walking on the edge."

"With blows like that, the Russian Federation is trying to make sure that Ukraine as a state will fail Kobolyev said that Nord Stream 2 would kill the Ukrainian transit route."

"You can either be in Turkmenistan, where you have free gas but low salaries and no freedom, or you can be in the European Union-style, but then the gas will be priced to market value. Sorry."

"You’re going to sit in prison."

"Apart from the purely medical consequences of the AIDS pandemic, another concern is the psychological aspect of the problem, manifest in the way society responds to HIV-positive people. We must work together to avoid isolating HIV-infected people from everyday social life. A top priority for us all must be protecting the social and economic rights of individuals and preventing discrimination against them."

"The history of mankind testifies that peace and development, democratization and the humanization of the world community are integral components of the general global process."

"Peace and stability are impossible without development, as they cannot exist in societies whose nature provides for violence and disrespect for fundamental human rights. It therefore follows that democracy which is declared but not supported by development is doomed to failure. The inability to ensure the development of a society in all its dimensions inevitably provokes disillusionment in the ideals of democracy and ruins social stability."

"An old truth asserts that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

"One of the important links between peace and development is the process of arms control and disarmament. The reduction of armaments and armed forces and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, unequivocally promote a decrease in the level of military threat, thus creating favourable external conditions for the existence and development of all members of the international community."

"It is time for everyone finally to realize that sustainable development is not only necessary for maintaining the existing security systems at the global, regional and national levels, but is also an objective condition for the existence and development of our entire civilization."

"My pride is for the wisdom and far-sightedness of the founders of the United Nations, who actually laid the foundation of a new world order. Challenging history itself, they attempted to establish peace ableness and mutual assistance as forces to oppose hostility and intolerance, and for the first time this was done successfully. Thus, the peoples of the Earth received a unique instrument for consolidating mankind as a single universal organism in its efforts to survive and build a better world."

"With the era of great ideological confrontation behind us, mankind has managed to decrease the threat of self-destruction by nuclear conflagration and to establish sufficiently reliable mechanisms of international security."

"The disappearance of a world divided into antagonistic systems is related to profound internal transformations in post-socialist countries. I am convinced of the need to establish the most favourable regime possible for those countries’ integration into the international community."

"The United Nations was established by people who realized that nations, peoples and States are interdependent and complementary components of a single entity called humanity. The presence of an unprecedented number of world leaders here today is convincing evidence of their support for the United Nations at this crucial stage of its development. The most important task for the United Nations today is to define itself under these new conditions and to follow the road indicated by the real circumstances of our existence. To do this would constitute a source of strength, longevity and moral health for the United Nations."

"Ukraine has become a democratic State with a policy aimed at ensuring the needs and rights of its citizens, and at establishing a civil society. There is every reason to conclude that during our six years of independence we have laid the foundation of further State-building."

"Ukraine has consistently conducted, and is determined to continue, a policy aimed at strengthening security and stability throughout the world."

"It is generally acknowledged that the future of the European security architecture as an important element of global security should be based on principles of comprehensiveness, indivisibility and partnership, and, in the long run, on collective rather than unilateral action."

"The future of the world order, of the United Nations and of every country, is our common future. Thus, while deciding today on the fate of the United Nations, we should be aware that we are also determining our own destiny."

"Like every people on earth, my compatriots want to live in a democratic country, without fear for their future and the life and destiny of coming generations."

"I am convinced that nuclear weapons are useless and unpromising as an instrument of State policy. It is necessary to do everything possible to make sure that in the new millennium mankind gets rid once and for all of the fear of devastating nuclear disaster."

"Unfortunately, criminals and malefactors have been increasingly enjoying the advantages of the information revolution. I would like to invite you to consider the appropriateness of working out an international instrument to combat computer terrorism."

"The best and most reliable weapon of peace is steady economic development. For developing countries and countries with economies in transition, the main factors for success in economic reforms and poverty eradication programmes consist in obtaining free access to world markets, in liberalizing trade and resolving external debt problems."

"Time requires of all of us to act in unity with resolve and to assume the responsibility for the future of the United Nations."

"Mobilizing the efforts of the various strata and sectors of our societies could become a powerful driving force for progress in the fight against the AIDS pandemic."

"In the past two years, the world has seen how true that is and has come to see this approach as the right one. Let us remember the old truism that prevention is better than cure. This is how we can finally triumph over the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

"We want Ukraine to undergo transformation as a state, as a structure that is on the same level as European countries, civilized countries of Western Europe."

"He was a person always able to find wise words and express them in such a way that they were heard by all Ukrainians. Particularly in times of crisis. When the future of an entire country can depend on the wisdom of one person."

"Kravchuk steered Ukraine through difficult years. Europe's second-largest country, with a population of around 52 million, was forced to re-learn everything. It had no experience of being an independent state. Its transition from a planned to a market economy, and from party dictatorship to democracy, was a painful one. Millions of Ukrainians found themselves living in poverty. The shopping cart that came to symbolize the deprivations of the period was nicknamed a "kravchuchka." But Ukraine survived — and Kravchuk should take some of the credit. For all his faults, as president he succeeded in maintaining peace and political stability in the country. This was quite an achievement at a time when most of the other former Soviet republics were riven by civil war."

"Ukraine believes that in our time no state, especially no nuclear state, can conduct the dual policy, customary in the recent past, in the field of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons."