President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal João Gomes Cravinho as part of his visit to Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky highly appreciated the fact that the Head of the Foreign Ministry of Portugal arrived in Ukraine precisely on the day of the 31st anniversary of the restoration of independence of our state.

“We are grateful that you arrived without paying attention to the sirens. I am glad that there are more and more people and states around Ukraine that are also not afraid of Russian aggression," the President emphasized.

During the meeting, the parties exchanged views regarding the further support for our country by Portugal in strengthening the defense capabilities and increasing the sanctions pressure on Russia. In particular, the Head of State called for the introduction of visa restrictions against citizens of the Russian Federation.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Portugal for its participation in the Second Summit of the Crimea Platform and noted the importance of keeping the issue of deoccupation of Crimea on the international agenda.

Special attention was paid to the participation of Portugal in the restoration of the educational infrastructure of Zhytomyr, as well as educational institutions of the cities of Irpin and Bucha with the support of the municipality of the Portuguese city of Cascais. In this context, the President highly appreciated the humanitarian mission of the Portuguese Foreign Minister to the Zhytomyr region.

"The restoration of educational institutions that return our schoolchildren to school, students to universities and children to kindergartens is a priority for us. This is the first step towards the restoration of our state," he said during the conversation.

"You are one of the first states that actually already join the programme of recovery of Ukraine. We are grateful for that," Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized.

He expressed hope that Portugal will join the recovery of Ukraine at the global level.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, for his part, noted that it is an honour for him to be in Ukraine on the 31st anniversary of its independence and to represent his country.

João Gomes Cravinho emphasized that he came to convey the words of solidarity and support - political, security and humanitarian - from the President, Prime Minister, government and people of Portugal.