Dear friends,
Dear ministers,
Minister Pistorius, thank you so much for strong warm words. Thank you very much for your support. And thanks to all of you, partners, friends, ministers and generals!
Thank you for standing with us, with Ukraine, and for helping us defend our country, our independence and the lives of our people.
Today is a deeply symbolic and painful day. Every year on June 4, we honor the memory of the Ukrainian children who were killed by Russia in this war. We know of 631 children, with names and surnames, who have died as a result of Russian shelling, airstrikes, and missile attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion. And if we count from the beginning of the war in 2014, 872 children have been killed. But tragically, this number is not final.
You’ve seen satellite images of the occupied parts of Ukraine – images showing mass graves in areas now controlled by Russian forces, near Mariupol and other cities in the east and south of our country. In these mass graves lie tens of thousands of people – at least tens of thousands.
The Russian army has turned our cities and villages in the Donetsk region and beyond into ruins. And this is exactly what we are fighting to stop. We are fighting against death – the death that Russia is bringing to our land.
Dear friends,
Let us now take a moment of silence to honor all Ukrainian children and all our people – civilians and soldiers – whose lives have been taken by this war. Please.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
We have no doubt that we can push Russia toward peace. But for that, we must continue to pressure Moscow with all available tools and step by step make its aggression meaningless.
First – air defense.
The stronger our air defense is, the less value Putin sees in attacking our cities and villages. So please, let’s continue strengthening our air shield.
I thank every leader, every country, and each of you who is already helping. But you also know we need faster deliveries – of air defense missiles and systems. Our team has provided clear data on the number of systems we need – especially Patriot systems. These are the most effective way to force Russia to stop its missile strikes and terror.
And we’ve also started discussions with some of your countries about localizing the production of air defense systems such as NASAMS, IRIS-T, SAMP/T and others in Ukraine. Let’s make it happen. These systems will strengthen our shared security – because what we build here will protect us all.
Second – investment.
We already have strong partnerships for producing weapons in Ukraine, and several joint projects are already up and running. We need to scale this up by at least 50%. Ukrainian industry still has significant untapped capacity – it just needs financing. Our team can provide you with detailed calculations. And our soldiers – especially those on the front line and involved in operations like “Spiderweb” – are proving that our drones truly save lives and deliver real results. We only have $17 billion available for weapons procurement from our own national budget for our $35 billion industry. The funding gap is $18 billion.
It’s crucial that today’s Ramstein meeting results in real agreements for joint production and investment in Ukraine’s defense industry. I urge you to stay fully engaged in building new defense packages for our soldiers.
Third – the Coalition of the Willing.
We have already started working with some of the countries here on real security guarantees and political steps to prevent the war from spreading or starting again. I thank each country already involved. But we need to stay practical – to prepare decisions, infrastructure, and coordination. Let’s speed this up at the team level.
And, dear friends, one more thing.
We must not allow Russia to blur reality or mislead the world. Moscow must be forced into diplomacy. We need a ceasefire. We need real peace. We need real security. We must use every method available to achieve this – our front line and our defense, our production and technology, our work to build a real security architecture. We must be effective in all of it. I’m sure.
Thank you to everyone who is helping us. Thank you.
Слава Україні!