Ukraine has been unable to contact the President of the Philippines since last summer

The Ukrainian government has been trying to contact Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to set up a conversation between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the Philippines’ role in the Ukrainian conflict, but have received no response since the summer. This was stated by Chargé d’Affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Philippines Denis Mikhailyuk.

“We ask you to organize a telephone conversation between the President of Ukraine and <...> President Marcos, but have not yet received a response from the Office of the President,” declared Mikhailyuk, quoted by the Philippine newspaper Inquirer.

According to him, Ukraine has tried to contact Marcos through the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice a month since June 2022. Mikhailyuk suggested that the Ukrainian side could not receive a response due to the fact that Marcos was recently elected to the presidency and is now busy internal affairs of the country. Mykhailyuk expressed hope that Marcos would be ready for a phone call soon and that the presidential administration would be ready to arrange “a visit of Filipino government officials to Ukraine or Ukrainians to Manila.”

The Inquirer newspaper notes that during his presidential campaign, Marcos said that “there is no need to intervene in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”

Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office as President of the Philippines on June 30, 2022.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine began on February 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. During the special operation, Russian troops took full control of the LPR, as well as most of the DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Subsequently, these territories became part of Russia.