I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!
It’s been a long emotional day. We held a meeting with our negotiation team. Rustem Umerov will lead the delegation at the next meeting with the Russian side. We have agreed on what exactly the agenda of the meeting should be and which topics are key for Ukraine. The release of our people from Russian captivity must continue. And it’s exactly right now that the necessary procedures for a new exchange have already begun – tomorrow we are expecting our people to return. I truly hope everything goes well for us tomorrow. We are doing our best, including with the help of our partners, international mediators, we are doing our best to secure also the release of civilian hostages and the return of our children abducted by Russia. The task is to work towards a ceasefire. This is what the whole world is urging Russia to do. The task is to work on organizing a leaders’ meeting. This is something that could bring us closer to peace. Ukraine has never wanted this war. And it is Russia that must end this war that it started itself. I am grateful to all our partners who are helping. Our delegation includes everyone capable of addressing every necessary detail. There were also important decisions today regarding our defense aimed at increasing the safety of our cities and our communities. We now have new contracts for interceptor drones. It’s in addition to the drone production volumes we’ve already purchased, including from partners. There are four more significant contracts worth over UAH 3 billion. Our military, along with the Ministries – primarily Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov – are working on this; and there must be more defensive drones. We are also securing all necessary contracts for frontline drones – the ones that are most effective. And we will definitely continue our deep strike program – I have approved new volumes. And, of course, this is a major contribution: Russian logistics, Russian military facilities, everything that works for aggression – these are all legitimate targets.
There were reports from the front – especially our Pokrovsk direction and some other areas in the Donetsk region. The situation is difficult, but I am grateful to each of our units for their resilience, for clearing our land of occupier, and for real results in defending our state, our cities, and our people. Defense is not a ritual word – it is concrete defense of Ukraine’s frontline positions, the protection of people’s lives, and the concrete defense of the Ukrainian national interest to end the war with dignity, in a way that preserves Ukraine’s independence. And that will happen. I thank everyone who is fighting and working for the sake of the Ukrainian state and Ukrainian people. I thank all those who are helping.
One more thing.
I spoke with NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, SAPO Prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, and Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk. We discussed various challenges, all of them. The anti-corruption infrastructure will work, only without Russian influence – it needs to be cleared of that. And there should be more justice. Of course, NABU and SAPO will work. And it is important that the Prosecutor General is determined to ensure that in Ukraine the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law is actually ensured. This is what Ukraine really needs. The cases that have been lying dormant must be investigated. For years, officials who have fled Ukraine have been casually living abroad for some reason – in very nice countries and without legal consequences – and this is not normal. There is no rational explanation for why criminal proceedings worth billions have been “hanging” for years. And there is no explanation why the Russians can still get the information they need. Important is – without Russians. Important is – to have an inevitability of punishment and that society really sees it.
And one more point – so that there are no fakes or information manipulations. Unfortunately, we lost our combat aircraft today – a French machine, a very effective one – one of our Mirage jets. The pilot managed to save himself, and this was not a Russian shoot-down. We will make our army stronger.
Glory to Ukraine!