Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, did not forget to express thanks via Twitter on Saturday for the donation of T-72 tanks from North Macedonia to Ukraine. Podolyak wrote the following on Twitter in Ukrainian and Macedonian:
“A friend is known in trouble. It doesn’t matter how big your country is. What matters is the kind of heart you have. Many nations today will show more courage than half of the G20. Like North Macedonia, which gave assistance to Ukraine. We will never forget this,“ he wrote on Twitter.
Пријателот се познава во неволја. Не е важно со каква големина е твојата земја, важно е какво срцето. Многу народи денес ќе покажат повеќе храброст од половина од G20. Како Северна Македонија, која ѝ пружи помош на 🇺🇦. Ние никогаш нема да го заборавиме ова.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 6, 2022
Unlike Ukraine, where in the past days the citizens through the social networks have been thanking North Macedonia for the donation of the T-72 tanks”, Russia through the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that such a move by official Skopje is a “big mistake that will only help in the criminal actions of the regime in Kiev”.
The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence after this reaction from Moscow stated that the Republic of North Macedonia is a sovereign state which makes its decisions independently, guided by the principles of respect of the international law, the UN Charter, the principles and commitments of the OSCE for protection of the European security architecture and the global stability.
“North Macedonia has condemned the military intervention in Ukraine from the very beginning and has stood in support of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the ministries reacted.
In addition to the donation of T-72 tanks to Ukraine, some media from North Macedonia wrote, although without official confirmation from the Macedonian authorities, that soon four Su-25 military planes that North Macedonia purchased from Ukraine during the 2001 conflict could fly above Kiev.