When asked whether the visit of the three Prime Ministers to Kiev represents a step closer to a cease fire, the Prime Minister responded that he hopes that it does. “Above all, this is a step towards saying that Ukraine is not written off.” The Prime Minister recalled the words of Ukrainian President Zelenski, who said that, even before the Russian aggression, there had been an exodus of diplomats, representatives of the most powerful countries, international institutions, and multinational corporations from Kyiv and Ukraine. And that many had fled before anything happened and before anyone was in any danger. In the discussion, Prime Minister Janez Janša summed up President Zelenski's words, saying that they felt very lonely and abandoned.  “The fact that someone visited them after all this time was a sign to them that they were not written off, that it was not just some distant support when everyone supports Ukraine, but that someone believed that they would actually defend themselves, win and that someone believes that Ukraine will rebuild, get back on its feet and become part of the European Union after this war.”

In the discussion, the Prime Minister said that the presidents had a mandate from their represented governments to visit Ukraine, as well as the broader authorisation of their European colleagues. He also announced that their visit was not the last and that it would be followed by others. Ukraine has already been visited by the Turkish Secretary of State and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; a visit was also announced by the President of the European Parliament with a delegation and others. “Upon our return, our first proposal was for the European Union to send a diplomatic representative back to Ukraine. For now, only the ambassadors of Poland and the Vatican are in Kiev.” The Prime Minister added that this is not risk free and that volunteers are needed. “If the whole European Union has no one in the diplomatic corps who is at least as brave as a Vatican diplomat, then we are not worthy of having diplomacy. The same applies for Slovenian diplomacy. Countries have diplomacy in order to solve the situation, to give an opportunity for negotiations at a time when conflicts are taking place. Not to attend banquets. One should be aware of what this service is.”

In the discussion, the Prime Minister said that the visit was not coordinated with Russia, but that the European Union informed the United Nations of the visit, and they informed Russia. The Russians thus knew about the visit and in fact there were no attacks on the centre of Kiev at the time of the visit.  The Prime Minister added that the feeling that Kiev is besieged, that nothing can be done there, is not real. These forces attacking Kiev from the east and west are too weak to invade Kiev. The Russian army will never invade Kiev. Kiev has a larger population than Slovenia. And all those tanks you broadcast on TV are not enough.”

The Prime Minister said that in many ways the Ukrainian and Russian armies are comparable. “Of course, the Russian army has more tanks, it has more planes, it has nuclear weapons, but you can't use them just like that, and that is largely a deterrent or intimidation factor.” As for ideology, morality, readiness to sacrifice one's life for a goal in a military conflict, the situation is very similar to that during the war for Slovenia. Even then, soldiers were told that they had been sent to fight the aggressor and that NATO had invaded Yugoslavia. The real tragedy, according to the Prime Minister, is the current siege of Mariupol and the great suffering of civilians, whom Russian tanks, despite promises, are not allowing to leave the city.

The Prime Minister said that the meeting took place in the Presidential Palace and that the talks were very concrete. The meeting also focused on humanitarian aid, proposals for further sanctions and proposals for a peace agreement.  He pointed out that Ukraine had made some proposals that Russia would not be able to reject, adding that until the guns fell silent there would be no serious negotiations. "It is obvious that the Russian army is now focused on taking Mariupol, on connecting Crimea to the separatist republics. Odessa, which is supposed to be, let's say, a realistic objective, is in my view unattainable. The Russian army in Ukraine is suffering defeats and the myth of an invincible army is being shattered."

The Prime Minister also spoke about President Zelensky, that he was legitimately elected by an overwhelming majority of votes, that his support in Ukraine's turbulent political arena, which was similar to Slovenia's, had fallen very much afterwards, but today there is no political party in Ukraine that would not stand behind him. On the question of whether it was logical, to some extent, for politics to close ranks in times of aggression and war, the Prime Minister replied that it was not so logical. "For example, we did not have such unity at that time. Here, however, it is actually one hundred per cent. They have agreed among themselves as to who will replace whom if they fall in battle. This chain is very long, and such unity makes it practically impossible for Russia to behead the Ukrainian leadership."

On the closure of the airspace over Ukraine, the Prime Minister said that support for this proposal would grow. "At the moment, the closure of Ukrainian airspace, given the state of play and the political sentiment, is possible in the form of modern anti-aircraft missiles that can protect the Ukrainian skies, at least around strategic points and around humanitarian corridors, if they are established. This is now the realistic approach." When asked about Ukraine's willingness to change its constitution in order not to become a NATO member and its willingness to accept a neutral status, the Prime Minister said that Ukraine is willing to change its constitution on the condition that it is provided some other institutional protection, i.e. membership in the European Union. "Russia is losing a key argument for its public by Ukraine's readiness to amend its constitution, which currently enshrines its ambition to join NATO. The Russian public has been prepared for this aggression on the pretext that Ukraine will become a threat to it as it is seeking NATO membership, because there are ballistic missiles installed there, allegedly even biological chemical weapons, which is, of course, a complete fabrication."

During the talk, the Prime Minister confirmed that an ambitious OECD plan to help Ukraine get back on its feet after the war had been brought to Kiev. The main message of this plan is that the OECD, a group of the most developed countries in the world, believes that Ukraine will survive.

Regarding a possible visit to Moscow by one of the prime ministers of a Member State of the European Union, the Prime Minister has said that there have been contacts with Moscow, but paranoia there runs rampant, so it is questionable when any physical meeting would be possible there at all. "However, Mr Putin’s time is running out. He now has only so much room to manoeuvre; if he agrees to negotiate, he may be able to remain in power for some time, without total isolation. If this goes on for a while longer, then that option will be gone and if in six months' time we retrospectively assess who the actual loser of his adventure in Ukraine is, it will be the Russian people."

During the interview, the Prime Minister also spoke about the pre-election period. As regards his non-appearance in Tarča, he said: " I arrived at the studio from Brdo, which hosted an event of the Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia at which awards were given to the country’s most successful businesses during the epidemic. Besides, look, I don’t know according to what criteria your colleagues invite to a show like this representatives of political parties that have 26 members in the parliament and representatives of parties that practically no one has ever heard of before.”

When asked whether the opposition was sceptical of his visit to Kiev and its claims that the Prime Minister, if he sincerely wished to help to bring about a truce, should rather have visited Moscow, he replied: “I’ve read many things, but I’ve never come across such great nonsense. We do not support Moscow and we do not support aggression, but we support Ukraine, and whatever negotiations Moscow is willing to accept will start when it becomes clear that Putin cannot achieve all his objectives in Ukraine by military force. Whoever claims that everyone is equal, that peace must be achieved, and that everyone is equally guilty of this aggression, actively supports Putin and this aggression.”

As regards the possible increase in the price of energy and gas, the Prime Minister said that the Government has done everything in its power to alleviate the high energy costs. "If you look at your last electricity bill, it is significantly lower since it is net of many charges. Moreover, during the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council last autumn we initiated an action with the European Commission to change the method, i.e. the formula for calculating electricity prices, which are actually unrealistically high due to the fact that they are based on the price of natural gas and last week we, I will say in this action, managed to obtain the consent of everyone, and the European Commission was instructed to correct this formula by the end of this month and to implement it no later than by May. That is to say, the price of gas, which accounts for ten percent of Europe's energy sources, will no longer be the one determining the final price of electricity." As regards crude oil and natural gas prices, the Prime Minister said that they recently started to decline on the world markets. "The even better news is that a lot has been done during this time, that Europe has been decreasing its dependence on Russian energy at an accelerated pace. Particularly good news for us is that our Foreign Minister visited Algeria a few days ago, where he reached an agreement according to which Slovenia can actually secure its entire natural gas supply within less than a year.” At the end of the interview, the Prime Minister said that Slovenia had sufficient energy reserves. "Even with this intervention, which is only possible in critical situations when we have regulated prices, but is only temporary, and given that prices on the world markets are falling, we may be able to loosen this regulation in less than thirty days in a manner so as to prevent an increase in prices and turn their trend downwards."