I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!
Today was an extremely busy day, and the coming days will also be serious. We spoke with the American team on economic matters – on reconstruction matters. I want to thank Secretary Bessent, Jared Kushner, and Larry Fink of BlackRock for being fully constructive. The key principle we share is that, to ensure reconstruction is of high quality and economic growth is tangible after this war, real security must form the foundation. When there is security, everything else follows. The 20 points for ending the war form a fundamental document. We are actively working on the key steps – and they must be doable steps. From this fundamental document, we are developing two additional ones – at least two. And the first is on security – regarding security guarantees for Ukraine with the United States, and the second is on the economy – covering reconstruction and joint investments. Today, we focused specifically on the economic document. And on the Ukrainian side, I was accompanied by Ukrainian government officials: Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister Kachka, Ministers Sybiha and Sobolev, and First Deputy Foreign Minister Kyslytsya. Our defenders were also represented in all discussions; today, General Hnatov joined us in the economic talks. The principles of the economic document are absolutely clear, and we are fully aligned with the American side on this – I want to thank them for today’s video meeting. An economic action plan will follow. Europe will also be involved in reconstruction, certainly. In the near future, we plan to move forward on the other two documents as well. Rustem Umerov will continue the discussions.
For tomorrow, we are preparing a Coalition of the Willing meeting – over 30 countries working with Ukraine to ensure security on land, in the air, and at sea. Next week, we will coordinate with Europe in bilateral formats. Ukraine is working swiftly; every visit and every negotiation we conduct always yields practical results for our defense and for our resilience.
Today, our combat aviation has been reinforced – thank you. Details are not yet public, but we continue to strengthen our forces in the sky. Today, there is also an additional sanctions step in Europe – more sanctions will target Russian tankers and the entire Russian oil transport infrastructure – and this is right. In December, Ukraine will present its own package of sanctions against the tanker fleet working for the war, and we will extend this pressure through joint formats with our partners. There will be new steps against Russian propagandists as well.
Today, I also received a report from the Head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service – including on the enemy’s economic situation and Russia’s growing dependence on China. Throughout Russian history, no one has ever surrendered sovereignty so much to China or any other major power. And it is astonishing how much Putin is paying just to avoid ending this war. Yet the world still has sufficient strength to end this war – to force Russia into doing so. Peace is needed. I want to thank everyone who is helping.
And one more thing.
Today, I spoke with representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. We had a substantive discussion. I will not allow any speculation against Ukraine. If our partners – including our key partner in Washington – are speaking so much and so concretely about elections in Ukraine, about elections under martial law, we must provide legal Ukrainian responses to every question and every doubt. This is not easy, but we definitely do not need any pressure regarding this. I expect that the People’s Deputies of Ukraine will present their perspective. Security challenges depend on our partners, primarily the United States, and political and legal challenges must be addressed by Ukraine. And they will be.
Glory to Ukraine!