Wishing you good health!
It has been a long and difficult day today. Since the night, I’ve received reports from the military, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and from the regions on our countermeasures against the Russian strike and on our recovery efforts. It was a massive attack – and it’s particularly cynical that Russia carries out such attacks while discussions on how to end the war are ongoing. America is very active, Europe is too, and so are our other partners. Everyone shares the same agenda – yet only Moscow invariably keeps the war against Ukraine as their top priority. Strikes like the one today confirm this. Therefore, for all of us, it is extremely important not to forget the real situation, not to forget what is happening here and now, and to counter Russian strikes. Of course, counter them 24/7. Ukrainian representatives are working with the United States 24/7, as well as with those who can help ensure truly real, effective steps toward ending this war. Likewise, we are doing everything 24/7 to ensure our army and our people have the means to defend themselves.
Today, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing took place, with a very substantive discussion. I want to primarily thank Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and Friedrich Merz for co-organizing it. And the U.S. side was represented by Marco Rubio. There were nearly 40 participants: Europe, the United States, Canada was present, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. An extremely important message that unites us all is that we must coordinate our diplomacy in a very substantive way, taking into account the interests of our partners whenever a particular step affects them. And we remember: now is not the time to relax, let our guard down; we must not lose our unity, we simply cannot. We must now defend against Russian strikes, against Russian assaults. We must ensure Ukraine’s resilience. These are absolutely concrete tasks. Air defense is necessary. Defense packages are necessary for us. I want to thank each partner for joining the PURL initiative, which enables us to procure American weapons, including missiles for the Patriot systems. Last night, our air defense performed quite well – intercepting cruise missiles, as well as ballistic missiles, and an aeroballistic one. Over 400 attack drones were also shot down. To be capable of doing this, we need the appropriate resources, and together with our partners, we are ensuring that our state, Ukraine, has such capabilities.
Also today, Ukraine adopted a new sanctions decision. It’s an important decision: we imposed sanctions on ships taking Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories – 56 such vessels. This is a new direction for our sanctions. And some of these ships have already been sanctioned by our partners, but not all, and we will continue to increase this pressure. Every Russian crime must receive an appropriate response, and sanctions are the most immediate reaction.
During the day, I spoke separately with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of Germany, and the President of Finland.
We also worked with the Ukrainian negotiating team today on the text of the document prepared with the United States in Geneva. The principles in this document can be developed into deeper agreements. And it is in our shared interest that security is real. I count on continued active cooperation with the American side and President Trump. Much depends on the United States because it’s America's strength that Russia takes most seriously.
I thank everyone who stands with Ukraine! I thank everyone who is helping! And it’s important right now to maintain our inner strength in the same manner we all want our strength in diplomacy to be effective.
Glory to Ukraine!