KIEV, May 20 (Newswires) - Newly sworn-in Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called on the country’s officials to put up photographs of their children in their offices, rather than his portrait.
“I really don’t want my photographs to be in your offices, please, not my portraits, because the president is not an icon, not an idol. The president is not a portrait,” Zelensky said at the Verkhovna Rada meeting on his inauguration.
The president asked the officials to hang pictures of their children in the offices. “Hang the photos of your children in your offices and look into their eyes before making every decision,” said Zelensky.
Groysman resigns
Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman has said that he resigns from his post on Monday, which automatically means that the whole government steps down.
“I have decided to resign after a government meeting on Wednesday,” he said at a briefing in Kiev.
Groysman added that he had made this decision after Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called on the government to resign in his address to the Ukrainian people.
He recalled that in accordance with the law the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers steps down before the newly elected Parliament. “However, in spite of this, I decided to resign following today’s statement made by Zelensky,” he pointed out.
“After the three years [of serving as the Prime Minister] I am not ashamed by the way we responded to the challenges we faced,” Groysman continued. “And I in proposed to the President and the Parliament that we formed the agenda together and quickly started making decisions to make Ukraine stronger.”
“However, the President chose a different path,” he said. “I believe that by making this statement today, he assumed all the responsibilities before the threats on the current agenda.”