I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
All day today, recovery efforts have been underway after the Russian strike – in Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kyiv region, and other regions of our country. The majority of the hits were on ordinary residential buildings and civilian facilities. More than 80 people were injured. Sadly, 4 people were killed, including one child. My condolences to their families and loved ones. In Kyiv, among the affected facilities was the Strazhesko Institute – the Institute of Cardiology – one of the leading medical institutions in our country and across our region in Europe. Two people were killed there, and one of the buildings suffered significant damage. Restoration must be carried out as quickly as possible, and the Government should provide assistance. In total, only in Kyiv, 32 locations sustained damage. The Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia was extremely brutal. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but in the Zaporizhzhia region alone nearly 40 people were injured last night. All of them are receiving the necessary assistance. I want to thank everyone involved in the rescue operations – all our State Emergency Service workers, EMS, doctors, nurses, police officers, and the municipal services. There were also Russian strikes on energy facilities. Unfortunately, this has already become a traditional Russian tactic – Russia is once again trying to hit Ukraine with a blackout this year. In fact, during these weeks, while the UN General Assembly was taking place, Russia literally used every day, every hour to strike Ukraine. Extremely treacherous strikes. And this is what defines Russia – what they do, not what they say or send out as signals around the world. They have spurned all genuine peace proposals and deserve truly tough pressure. This week, we expect decisions from Europe on such pressure – at the very least, there should be a new sanctions package, the 19th package. It is especially important that sanctions hit painfully at Russia’s energy trade and the entire infrastructure of Russia’s tanker fleet. Moreover, intelligence now indicates that the Russians are using tankers to launch and operate drones against European countries. This is yet more evidence why the Baltic Sea and other seas must be closed to Russian tankers – at the very least to the shadow fleet.
We also count on strong steps from the United States. We discussed with President Trump what could truly push Russia to change its position and stop the war. The world has tools that can work in a genuinely peace-making way.
Today, I spoke with the President of Finland and thanked him for his support. We coordinated contacts with our partners, particularly with the United States. It is important that we steadily move toward finalizing security guarantees – those measures that can both help bring this war to an end and deter Russia from any further aggression. I also spoke with the Prime Minister of Norway. We discussed today’s Russian strike – more than 500 drones, about 350 of them “shaheds,” and 48 missiles, including two air-launched ballistic missiles. That is why air defense invariably remains the top priority for Ukraine. I thank partners who are helping. Norway is among them, and it is one of our strongest partners. Thank you, Jonas!
Today, I also spoke with Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General. We discussed, among other things, our PURL initiative. The initiative is working, providing very active assistance – it is precisely the mechanism that allows us to purchase American weapons with funding from our NATO partners. These include items such as missiles for Patriots and missiles for HIMARS. There are already six countries contributing to PURL: the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Canada. Another six have declared their readiness to join: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Iceland. I thank them all! This is what truly helps. This week, we will work with our European friends to implement the agreements on air defense as quickly as possible. Russia will definitely be held accountable for everything it does. Thank you to everyone around the world who is helping Ukraine – our people, our state, and our independence.
Glory to Ukraine!