KYIV. June 7 (Interfax) - The similarity of certain parts of remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a joint press briefing with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's speech at a congress of the European Solidarity party indicates that the position of the Ukrainian leadership remains unchanged, Zelensky's spokesperson Iuliia Mendel said.
"President Zelensky proofread all of his speeches, and if he disagreed with some messages, he changed them. If President Zelensky agreed with the remarks he made yesterday, it means only positive things for Ukraine: Ukraine's position doesn't change when new people come to power. We remain on our European and Euro-Atlantic course and we certainly recognize Russia as the aggressor," Mendel said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
However, a possible incident involving the use of identical narrative may also indicate some systemic error, she said.
"If the presidential administration can't rely on the Foreign Ministry, what kind of cooperation can we talk about? If the system isn't working, it needs to be rebuilt from scratch," Mendel said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, in turn, said that the abovementioned speeches were drafted for European Day (May 18) and parts of them were subsequently used during preparations for Zelensky's visit.
"Actually, the Foreign Ministry prepared a set of key messages about Ukraine's European integration and then sent them to the presidential administration to be used during Europe Day celebrations, among other events. Some of these messages were included because they are highly important for our international partners, and we wanted them to be expressed during the first visit [of Zelensky abroad as president of Ukraine]," Klimkin said in an interview with news website Crimea.Realities.
Klimkin additonally said he does not know why Poroshenko used these remarks during the European Solidarity party's congress, adding that the entire situation should be taken with good humor.
Poroshenko's former press secretary Svyatoslav Tseholko on June 5 accused Zelensky of plagiarism, saying that Zelensky's remarks included an excerpt from Poroshenko's recent speech.