Fellow Ukrainians!
Work is still underway after last night’s Russian missile and drone strike. It was a large-scale attack; the energy sector was the primary target. Russia is not changing its tactics here and continues trying to inflict exactly this kind of pain on Ukraine ahead of winter. What matters is that we are countering it. What matters is that there are interceptions. Nineteen missiles were shot down, including ballistic ones. Almost 560 drones were also neutralized, including nearly three hundred “shaheds.” Unfortunately, not everything was shot down, and working towards stronger air defense is priority number one. This task is extremely difficult and extremely costly for Ukraine and for our partners. No country could handle this alone. But we are securing air defense missiles for Ukraine and steadily expanding our fleet of air defense systems of various types. We are preparing for next week’s work with our partners – including to ensure a higher quality of our air defense, and we are very much counting on our partners’ support.
The Ukrainian delegation should already be in the United States by this evening, U.S. time. The dialogue based on the Geneva points will continue. Diplomacy remains active. The American side is demonstrating a constructive approach, and in the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end. The Ukrainian delegation has the necessary directives, and I expect the guys to work in accordance with clear Ukrainian priorities.
There were also meetings today with Kyrylo Budanov, Denys Shmyhal, Mykhailo Fedorov, and Pavlo Palisa. Each of these meetings concerned different aspects of our internal resilience, and, of course, the strength we possess that can facilitate the right negotiations.
I spoke with Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, representatives of the majority faction, and Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko. I expect the Ukrainian Parliament to remain fully functional.
There is already a candidate for the position of Minister of Justice. A clear vision is also needed regarding the future head of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine – a strong person is required – and I asked the MPs, together with the Prime Minister, to determine a list of candidates.
And one more point.
We will introduce new sanctions decisions – building on our partners’ pressure on Russia for this war – and our sanctions, which we will effectively implement jointly with our partners, so that the world exerts pressure on the aggressor in exactly the way needed to weaken Russia’s ability to wage war. The decrees will be issued tomorrow. Our sanctions proposals will be forwarded to all major partner jurisdictions. Thank you to everyone who is helping! Thank you to all who are defending Ukraine.
Glory to Ukraine!