was forced to visit the united states twice, but never convinced congressmen. at a joint press conference with the ukrainian leader on december 12, president joseph biden used completely different wording than in kyiv at the beginning of the year. ukraine will emerge from this war strong, proud and firmly anchored in the western system, if we do not leave it. americans should be proud of the role they played in sustaining the success. of ukraine and we will continue to provide ukraine with the necessary equipment and weapons as much as we can. problems with with help also arose in europe. the same viktor orban blocked the adoption of a four-year aid package for ukraine worth 50 billion euros. military support for kyiv by the international coalition has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the full-scale invasion. statements about the need to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict are increasingly heard in the west. therefore, in 2020

, ukraine enters the fourth quarter of a period of deep political, military and economic uncertainty, despite this, at the final annual press conference, zelenskyi did optimistic statements. i believe once again that our partners will not let us down, they know the details, what is needed, how it will affect, they know how the postponement of certain dates affects us, they know about our perseverance, that it is not artificial, that it is necessary for sustainability for our defense. whether there are grounds for optimism will become clear at the beginning of the 24th. on january 8 , the american congress will return from vacation, and on february 1, the leaders of the european union will gather for a special summit in order to try to approve the aid package for ukraine in a second attempt. there are discounts on evkalor of 20% in the psyllanyk, pam and oskad pharmacies. a special performance of the legendary

dead rooster band with an orchestra at the lviv opera with the christmas and selected program. early lyrical songs, new christmas compositions and favorite super hits. on january 8, the stage of the lviv opera. tickets on the website of the big show ua organizer. information partners, espresso tv channel and radio fm halychyna. live sound. there are discounts on lactial of 10% in psylsnyk, pam and oskad pharmacies. hello everyone, my name is sashko shevchenko, this is svoboda live. and we start with the exchange prisoners between ukraine and russia. according to analysts of the american institute for the study of war, after a break of several months, russia has decided. whiten her image and that is why

she decided to accept the exchange. in this way , the leadership of the russian federation probably wants to show that they are interested in acting within the limits of international law against the background of previous violations of the geneva convention, in particular in the treatment of prisoners. the kremlin did not respond to such accusations. meanwhile, russian officials and media workers began to write about the fact that russia allegedly returned several dozen more prisoners than it gave to ukraine. the head of the state edition of russia today, margarita simonyan, wrote in a telegram that 248 prisoners of war returned to russia, allegedly only 173 returned to ukraine. the ukrainian authorities announced other figures. yesterday, volodymyr zelensky announced the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of the great war, and according to his report, 230 people returned to ukraine, including 130 military personnel, 55 national guardsmen, and 38 border guards. one

policeman and six civilian prisoners. as noted in the ukrainian strategic center communications and information security, the figures of the ukrainian and russian authorities are different, because russia is probably trying to cause distrust in the ukrainian authorities, and to impose the opinion that the ukrainian authorities are allegedly concerned about the fate of the prisoners. we are home, you have not forgotten us.

medics and defenders from the island of snakes from the chornobyl nuclear power plant, who were captured for the first time, from azov steel, border guards, policemen. superintendents, armed forces, that is, absolutely everyone, this exchange was prepared for quite a long time, the participation, let's say, the organization of this process was directly supported by the side of the united arab emirates, and with its help we were able to do it together. the commander of the azov brigade, denys prokupenko , congratulated the exchanged prisoners, but reminded that there are still more than 900 azov. still in captivity. the previous prisoner exchange between ukraine and russia took place in august 2023, after which the exchange process stopped. according to ukrainian authorities, it was russia that actually froze them. dmytro lubinets, the verkhovna rada commissioner for human rights, expressed

hope that the next exchange of prisoners may happen soon. i hope that this process will start this year. this process will show systematicity, i hope that in the coming weeks we will again be able to please the heroes by returning home, and the relatives of the prisoners of war by announcing such good news. according to the ombudsman, the 49th exchange of prisoners took place yesterday since the beginning of the large-scale invasion of russia, and 2,000 have

already returned home. more than 4 thousand ukrainians. we will ask the representative of the main intelligence department of the ministry of defense of ukraine andrii yusov about the details of yesterday's exchange and possible future ones. he is already in touch with us. congratulations. i congratulate you. yesterday's exchange was the largest since the beginning of the great war. how was it possible to achieve that so many ukrainian soldiers returned home at once and, if i am not mistaken, for the first time, civilian prisoners as well. returned, civilian prisoners also returned, but not for the first time, similar operations took place before, in terms of number, yes, this really the biggest exchange, it's a complex process that consists of different stages, and actually all of them ended yesterday, and that means yes,

and another 230 ukrainian defenders, defenders and civilians returned home, and so together from the full-scale invasion of 2828, although , all the difficulties, despite the fact that russia is an aggressor state that often does not comply and someone, as you absolutely rightly noted in the story, international law and the geneva conventions, the negotiation process regarding the exchange did not stop all this time, continued, and ukraine involved all possible tools in order to move this matter from its place, and as general budanov announced yesterday, in particular through the mediation of e... the united arab emirates managed to move and implement this great exchange itself, and the work the following ones are already in progress. is it possible to assume that the next exchanges can really take place soon, as the kazavsmen of ukraine said? this is a task that is being worked on, and

a task that is under the personal control of the president of ukraine, of course, which kyrylo oleksiyovych takes care of and deals with budanov, that's why. this is being worked on by the entire team of the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, and we do not usually announce specific dates or make announcements, because it is a complex and sensitive process, but this is how we do everything to make it happen as quickly as possible. mr. andriy, you mentioned that the negotiation process did not stop, but there really was such a break from the last exchange, what was the reason for this, or was russia really unable to go for it for a long time and why in the end. agreed that russia has intensified, in particular, informational and psychological operations against ukraine , including using even such a sensitive, emotional topic as the question of prisoners, and trying to use prisoners for propaganda

purposes, trying to put pressure on the relatives of our defenders who are there, who are waiting for their relatives, to make various discrediting remarks, in including yours. leadership, and so this topic was also actively used by russian propaganda, but be that as it may, in fact, it is still a mutual process, and in russia too there are... relatives who are trying as much as possible under the conditions of the dictatorship, to ask questions and demand the return of their men, so the pause was prolonged, and the aggressor had to demonstrate something. ukraine has publicly announced every time that we are ready to return russian prisoners of war from ukraine, but only in exchange for the return of our own. this time has come, it has come, and it is very good that it was realized. we hope that... the aggressor state, the russian federation, will in the future work harder

on compliance with international humanitarian law and the geneva conventions and will not prevent the conduct of subsequent trials. mr. andriy, how can you comment on the fact that, in particular, russian officials and employees of the russian media allegedly present this as their own victory, that they managed to return much more of their own prisoners, and well, they report other figures, allegedly only 173 in... their prisoners of war returned to ukraine, so what kind of comment will gur make, well , mrs. simonyan will comment, this is definitely an ungrateful thing and there is no desire, because mostly she takes it every time she opens her mouth, but in general the logic is clear, every time when took place exchange, including the need to clarify and explain something to the dumbfounded population, often to explain why they are ready to give up ukrainians who... who should not be given away, who are constantly demonized by russian propaganda, so it is necessary to present

it as one's own victory, let them show themselves on television for their population , whatever, the main thing for us is the result, and this is the result, it is the saved lives of ukrainians, and we know for sure that this is the greatest value for us and we know for sure that this is a real victory, and what does it show russian propaganda to be honest, in this situation it is not interesting at all, mr. andriy, you said that this is not the first time. it is possible to free civilian prisoners, but my colleagues and journalists of radio svoboda talked about the fact that there are special difficulties with the return of civilians, partly due to the fact that russia does not recognize them as prisoners, as prisoners, can you explain what is special about this , as much as this process is possibly more complicated, what should be hoped for by those ukrainians who have in russian captivity, in fact, people who were not in uniform and did not perform military tasks. one must hope and believe in the return of one's relatives home, and the state

is working on this, and as for the difficulties, they are also significant, because if we are talking about prisoners of war, then no matter how difficult it is in russian captivity, and there it is really difficult, if the aggressor state did not neglect the geneva conventions, but prisoners of war are regulated by their own international humanitarian law and the geneva convention, the very term civilian hostages and civilian prisoners falls out of this concept: that is, they are simply hostages in the hands terrorists, these are people who should not be outside the borders of ukraine, who should not be in the hands of the aggressor state, and ukraine here, even within the framework of international law, cannot discuss the issue of exchanges, let's say , because it is not provided for by international law and because what to exchange whom, that is, we need to conditionally capture some part of the bryansk region and all its inhabitants in order to exchange for... our civilian hostages, well, we are not russian terrorists, we certainly

cannot do that, so of course it is a difficult topic , but nevertheless it is moving and the results are there and will be more. well, if you can certainly share that, do you see on the part of russia that there is more willingness, so to speak, to give civilian prisoners, given the difficulties that you mentioned, we do see that some of the civilian prisoners are returning . currently, unfortunately, we cannot talk about any desire to give up our civilian hostages, and change for the better in terms of compliance with international humanitarian law, and just some human logic and ethics, but work on this, of course continues and different tools will also be applied. and the head of the gur, kyrylo bodanov, noted the role of the united arab emirates as a mediator. can you give some details why you had to, shall we say, involve third parties and what was the role

of the uae? well, we will not talk about the role in detail right now, because these are still those things, those processes that continue, which can still help in the future, this is important. it is not the first time that ukraine has benefited from the help and support of other states in the implementation of exchanges, if we recall the previous large exchange, when 215 defenders returned and... medvedchuk, a state traitor, actually went to the swamps, then turkey and saudi arabia and poland, for example, also took part in this exchange. for example, the country is ready to expand this list of states and respects and appreciates such help, but in order for a third country to be involved, there must be the agreement of all participants in this war. ukraine is ready to work in this direction. russia in many cases is not, there are countries that would be ready to provide their

services in this context, but unfortunately we are not we have such, well, such agreement and... support on the part of the aggressor state, nevertheless, it will definitely happen in the context of international cooperation as well. the commander of the azov brigade, denys prokupenko, congratulated the exchange, in fact, he shared his words of gratitude and congratulated those relatives who returned, but reminded that another 900 servicemen of the azov brigade remain in captivity and that none of them returned yesterday, are you in ... you see that it is the prisoners of azov for russia that have some special sacred meaning, and it is them that they do not want to give well, let's put it this way, it's no secret that russian propaganda demonizes the defenders of azovstal, in particular, of course. and of course, we take this into account, both during

the implementation and conduct of the negotiation process and in the overall work of the coordination headquarters. ago. during the previous exchanges, it was possible to successfully return , including the defenders of azovstal, in general, every fifth of the defenders of azovstal has already returned home. so there is still a lot of work and it will definitely be completed and brought to an end. and it is very good that there is understanding, this it is important to understand the relatives of our defenders who are in captivity. and there is interaction with units, respectively, and the result is mandatory. will, not every time, not during every exchange, it is possible to ensure, say, a certain level of representation from each group. we obviously have problems with communication with andrii yusov, actually we talked with him about the final details of the exchange that took place yesterday, and it was the largest exchange of prisoners of war since

the beginning of the large-scale invasion. let me remind you that a representative was in contact with us andriy yusav, head of... intelligence of the ministry of defense of ukraine. vladyslav zadorin, this is a marine who defended snake island and was captured, he, among others, also returned home yesterday. his brother artem katyuzhanskyi is with us live. are you with us, see you. mr. artem, good evening, and i congratulate you on the return of your brother from captivity. good evening, studio, good evening, audience. let's start with whether you can tell how you actually found out that your brother is in polonia, but i already said that he was a snake, i i understand that this happened at the very beginning of the invasion of the russian federation, it was in the first days, even the first hours, when there was a full-scale invasion, my brother was a defender, one of the 80 defenders of zmiiny island, and they held the defense from there

at 4-5 in the morning when it started the invasion began until... 16-17 o'clock in the evening, they held the defense until they were taken, taken prisoner, there was a bombardment, there was a bombardment by fighter jets by the cruiser moscow, as you know, there were threats to which our soldiers responded with dignity to the russian warship , and that's all we, well, i communicated with my brother all this time, until somewhere on thursday, contact with him was lost, and we did not understand what was happening, what... the situation there at the moment, and only at 10 o'clock in the evening the president came out to broadcast on the first day of his address to the people and he said that all the defenders of zmiiny island died heroically and even he gave them all a posthumous hero of ukraine, this is on the first day, but later we saw a video from

russia that our guys were all taken captured, all alive, captured, and they were well i will stop to the territory of russia, mr. artem , tell me what you already know, did you manage to communicate with your brother about the details of what he experienced in captivity, eh, we, well, yes, he gave a little, a little information, but you understand his emotional and physical condition, we are a little bit of him, well, we are limiting him in this , he is now undergoing rehabilitation, he was in captivity for almost two years, my brother, who was before captivity, weighed 100.20 kg, now he is 60 kg, there are photos, videos he was taken prisoner, the conditions there, well, as they say, are not the best, and he shared a little bit about it, but well... we're not going into that conversation with him in more detail so as not to hold him back even more. were you able to somehow keep in touch with your brother while he was in captivity and

somehow find out information about where he is and what happened to him? well, after this video, which we saw on february 26 on the russian mass media, we saw that he is alive, that he is with all the defenders in polona, ​​and after that for about six months we did not see anything, did not know anything. and only after the red cross received, well, a response from the aggressor country that they were in captivity, and it was confirmed officially by the red cross that he was in captivity, but on december 31, 2023, that is, in the second year, a year ago, he was if they tried to exchange him, but he was left behind in kursk. and for a year he was in kursk, a year we did not know, even at all he was not on any lists, we did not know what, well, no information about him at all, he

was counted as missing, for a year we did not have any information from him at all, mr. artem, at the very end i will ask you to answer briefly, whether the news that your brother is returning came as a surprise to you, given that the exchange process really had such a break for several months, or you. .. that your brother will be tomorrow, that he will be at home? we, as they say , we didn't know 100%, but we prayed and we believed that, well, we did everything possible, that is, we worked with the coordination headquarters side by side, made all possible requests, went to all possible organizations, did everything is possible, well, actions to change the guys, and the list was 300 people there before, but they exchanged 200. 30 and there were, would have been in this exchange, well, my brother was not, we did not know 100%, but we believed and as you can see , exchanged and god forbid, now nothing harms his health

, thank you very much, once again i want to congratulate you on the return of your brother home from russian captivity, we were in touch with artem katyuzhanskyi, the brother of a marine who yesterday returned home, thank you very much, and now let's talk about what ukraine is worth. to expect in 2024 from an economic point of view, what will be the exchange rate of the dollar, how will prices rise and whether there will be money in the country's budget to pay salaries to state employees , my colleague olga armenishyna will tell about how the ukrainian economy will enter the year 2024. with what economy does the country enter 2024? we have collected basic data and statements. weakening of the hryvnia exchange rate. in december, ukrainians set a... record for buying foreign currency, the net purchase amounted to 1 billion/26 million dollars. during these years, there was more only in november 2012, according to the nbu.

ukrainians continue to buy foreign currency, which is why the hryvnia has weakened significantly in recent days. for example, on january 3, the national bank set the official rate of the dollar at 3808, which was a historical record, but already on january 4, the record was broken again, because the dollar rose in price and is now worth 38/11. state budget deficit. in the second state budget of ukraine, which was adopted during the full-scale war, the people's deputies set a budget deficit of uah 1,571.5 billion. one of the options for replenishing the state budget is to direct the frozen funds to investment of russian assets for ukrainian reconstruction. this was announced by the prime minister of ukraine during the meeting of the cabinet of ministers on january 3. external funding is attracted in

2023, 27% of which are grant funds, the leaders of support are unchanged: the european union, the united states, the imf, japan, canada, great britain, and the world bank. the needs for this year are more than 37 billion dollars, we are counting on a rhythmic and stable growth. constant help from partners, at the same time we are steadily increasing our own budget revenues, primarily customs and tax more than 1.1 trillion of taxes, fees and other payments went to the general fund of the state budget last year. international aid. ukraine's budget deficit will be covered mostly at the expense of international aid, at least that's what the government plans, but will it actually be like that? at the end of last year, the bloomberg agency... reported that it had received its order from the prime minister of ukraine to the interdepartmental coordination group of donors for ukraine, which supervises the funds. in

it, he allegedly demanded an emergency. meetings with donors, since ukraine is in uncertainty, and more than 110 billion dollars of financial aid has been delayed due to the political struggle in the usa and the european union, - the publication notes. ukraine really did not receive confirmation of funding from the usa and the european union. everything should be decided in january and february this year. the fact is that the eu is looking for a way to bypass hungary's veto on providing ukraine with eur 50 billion in aid. and in the usa. there are still disputes over combining financial aid to ukraine with spending on border security with mexico. in an interview for voice of america director of the european department of the imf alfred kemer noted that at the end of 2023, the ukrainian authorities took care of reserves of funds in case of a delay in international aid, and also announced the biggest challenges for the ukrainian economy in 2024. unfortunately, i must add that

there is extreme uncertainty. because of the war and this uncertainty will remain, but everyone was surprised how well ukraine manages the economy in these conditions of war, what progress has been achieved in the medium term to strengthen the economy, make it more sustainable and develop prosperity, this is a good start for 2024. it's going to be a challenging year, i'm not saying it's going to be a normal year, but i have a lot of respect for the partners we support in achieving these goals. the director of the european department of the ipf also congratulated the ukrainian. with the excellent execution of the fund's program and stated that they expect that the ukrainian economy will continue to grow next year. olga armyanyshina, radio liberty. well, to discuss what will happen to finances and the economy in 2024, we invited the adviser to the president of ukraine and the former minister of development economist timofiya mylovanova. good evening.

good evening. to say that i am not an adviser to the president of ukraine, here, but let's ask questions, yes, i will continue, thank you, mr. tymofiyu, we see that the budget deficit is growing, and has already reached more than a trillion hryvnias, in simple words, what does this indicate, or is it a problem, and is it a problem this year, or can it continue to grow in a controlled manner, well, you can't say that it is growing, you have to compare year to year, yes, because the budget was approved. based on the calendar year, and you're right that it is this year, the biggest danger is the lack of funding from our partners, there was just a broadcast or a material from you, where there was a direct speech from the prime minister, who said that this year we need less help from partners than in the past, this is good, but so far there is no such help, there is a delay

in the united states, because there is a struggle between the democrats and republicans in the congress, and there is a delay in the european union, because there orbán, the prime minister of hungary, imposes the right of veto and bargains, or maybe just blocks the issuance of financial aid to ukraine. what does this mean, what are the alternatives if this aid is delayed because the economy does not work like this, no one will ever announce that there will be no money, everyone will say, they will be in favor. they will be later, and one day they will really come, but there will be a delay, if there is a delay, there are problems in the budget, it is necessary to finance, it is necessary to finance pensions , salaries of budget employees, it is necessary to finance the army, the most important thing, and as happens in such cases, the expenses that are are not key, and this often happens, by the way, for example, in the united states of america, it happens there almost every six months, and in the autumn there was already such a risk twice, and the second

thing is that... loans are starting to be significant in the domestic market, and this, if there are such loans, will lead to inflation and maybe before the exchange rate change, we already saw this in july of 2022, when we financed uah 100 billion with internal loans, and we had to change the exchange rate then, and all this, everyone felt it both because of inflation and because of the exchange rate change, that's why the risks are such, and we already partially see that... someone such risks start to get nervous because of them and people buy more dollars and reach record values, so these are all indicators that the situation is actually so serious and complicated. mr. timofiyu, you have now listed what methods can be used if there really is no expected funding, expected help from international partners, and, as bloomberg writes, a premium.