I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!
Today has been packed with military matters. I received reports from the Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of the General Staff. I also spoke with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. I thank everyone. I thank all our warriors, primarily in the Dobropillia, Pokrovsk, and Kupyansk areas. It’s extremely important that you are delivering results and defeating the occupiers. In just our Dobropillia counteroffensive operation, Russian overall losses have already exceeded 3,000, most of them irrecoverable. This was the area where the Russians aimed to achieve one of the major breakthroughs on the front, but our forces are neutralizing them. And that is important. Putin lies to the leaders who still talk to him when he says that the occupying forces are achieving some kind of their goals. For years now, they have been forced to come up with new and new reasons why the deadlines set for them keep being pushed back. And it is telling that despite everything the world says to Russia, they still respond only with new attempts at assaults and new strikes on Ukrainian cities and our infrastructure. They are truly sick with war – and whether they can be cured is an open question. The only thing that can force this Russian virus of war to stop is strength: strong decisions and strong assistance.
We discussed this in New York with many of our close partners, and, of course, we discussed it with President Trump. President Trump is very well informed about the situation on the front, what the Russians are doing, and how they are trying to deceive everyone. We are discussing with the U.S. specific measures that can stop this war. The solutions exist. It is crucial that the agreements we have reached be implemented. These past few days, the Russians continued to inflict heavy strikes on our cities: Chernihiv, Kharkiv and the region, Odesa and Dnipro regions. They constantly strike the Donetsk region. Kherson is under severe artillery fire and bombing. Russians must be held accountable for all of this. Without a doubt. Today, there were also reports on deep strikes carried out by our forces. Efficiency, drone production and missile production – we will increase output volumes.
I held a Staff meeting, including on contracts in our army: I instructed to expand the contract component. There were also reports from Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the Defense Intelligence on Russian weapons production, their industry in general, and the fuel sector. We outlined new tasks. Now is the time when the world sees that Russia has entered a stage where the war will bring more and more problems for the Russian system itself, the Russian economy, and Russian society. The critical point is not to ease pressure on Russia for this war. Sanctions, restrictions on trade with Russia, restrictions on the schemes they exploit and profit from – all of this will work. We expect the approval of the 19th EU sanctions package. We expect steps from the United States. We value President Trump’s stance toward those in Europe who still buy Russian oil and continue a policy of dependence on Russian schemes. We hope Hungary listens to a key NATO ally and respects the President of the United States – right now, no one in Europe sees such respect from Hungary. America is ready to fill the European market with energy resources so that no one will even need to look in Russia’s direction. The Middle East is ready to work with Europe. Every nation in Europe can become stronger – without Russia.
There was also a report from our military on, frankly, very unusual events along the Ukraine–Hungary border. Our forces spotted drones, and those were reconnaissance drones. I instructed the military to conduct a full check, and if such drones appear again, to respond appropriately for the defense of our state. Ukrainians are currently the best in Europe at defending against any drones. We are ready to share our experience with other nations that need reliable protection against drone threats. Negotiations are underway with dozens of countries in Europe and the Middle East, and we have proposed a strong deal to the United States – one of the most promising. We now see constant incidents with Russian drones in Denmark, Norway, and the Baltic states. According to intelligence, Russia may be using tankers to launch these and similar drones – as platforms for launch and control of drones. And it is not easy to prevent, but it is possible. And this must be learned, it must be built into the relevant capacity.
Today I spoke with the Prime Minister of Denmark, and one of the topics was exchanging details on drones and all these incidents – which are obviously not accidental. Russia is trying to reshape Europe to suit itself – in line with its own vision of life. And that vision is one no European would ever embrace – except, of course, those whom Russia has corrupted. Therefore, counteraction is necessary. Joint action is necessary. Collective defense is possible. I thank everyone who is helping us! I thank everyone who knows that life must prevail!
Glory to Ukraine!