Kolesnikov noted that his party envisions, first and foremost, peace in the Donbass. "There cannot be any stability without peace," the politician noted. The shadow PM added that ending the war in eastern Ukraine will end the unnecessary death and suffering among both civilians and Ukrainian servicemen, and that "this matters more than anything." He also promised that peace will result in the reinvigoration of Donbass, with people being paid wages and pensions, taxation returning to normal, all of which will stabilize the hryvnia's exchange rate.
Just as important, according to Kolesnikov, is the "constitutional strengthening of peace initiatives…The main task is to move power closer to the people, to give it to the people; to take authority from the center and give it to the regions. If Donbass today needs this to ensure peace, it must be done. But this is only the first step. All the country's regions must have equal powers. Only this will prevent corruption." The politician noted that another immediate task would be to reduce unnecessary expenditures in the civil service, spending for which presently amounts to 60 billion hryvnia ($2.55 billion US) and to transfer this money to the social sphere.
"Ministries have a thousand or more people, [among them] the ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy. Regional administrations have up to a thousand people each. What decisions do they make? If they were to be closed, believe me, Ukrainians wouldn't notice that they are gone for at least 20 years."
Ukraine's so-called shadow cabinet, composed of MPs from the Opposition Bloc, was formed late last month. Opposition Bloc Vice Chairman Oleksandr Vilkul stated that "the government in office is absolutely incompetent," and that "guided by European practice, we are shaping an opposition government that will draft bills and propose steps to overcome the crisis and protect Ukrainian citizens."
With 29 seats in Ukraine's 423 seat parliament, the Opposition Bloc is considered by political experts to be among the last political forces opposed to Kiev's present pro-war course following last year's parliamentary elections.