Speaker of the Seimas of Republic of Lithuania Viktoras Pranckietis has expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada would pass the required bills for further cooperation of Ukraine with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Ukraine needs financial assistance, and we hope that the Rada will take appropriate steps to pass relevant bill for receiving support from the IMF," Pranckietis said at the opening of the tenth session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Seimas of Republic of Lithuania and Senate of Republic of Poland "Security. Development. Democracy. Strong Together" in Kyiv on Friday.

He also said that the upcoming election campaign in Ukraine will be a turbulent period, both in terms of internal and external challenges. He said that it is very important that this does not affect the elections, and "they were held in accordance with democratic standards."