I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!
A brief update on today. Another phase of the exchange has been completed, and we are preparing the ones to follow. Today, our warriors returned home to Ukraine – warriors from various branches of our Defense Forces, many of whom had been in captivity for over two years. The exchange process must continue.
Also today, there was a meeting of the Staff – a very detailed report on the frontline. Particular attention was paid to the Sumy region, to operations in the border areas. I am grateful to our units for their resilience. The Russians had various plans and intentions there – absolutely insane, as usual. We are holding them back and eliminating these killers, defending our Sumy region. We also held very detailed discussions on all agreements regarding arms supplies: contracts, funding, and specific commitments from partners. The volume of support this year is the largest since the start of the full-scale war. I instructed that work with partners be increased even further to secure investment in our production, in our weapons. We are also preparing a new platform for such production. This is a long-term, systemic effort, and I want to thank every country already taking part. We are preparing new agreements for next week – together with our NATO partners. Specifically regarding investment in production. These are primarily technologies – first and foremost, drones and artillery shells. We are also making separate efforts on interceptor drones, which must strengthen our defense against Shahed attacks. Several of our domestic enterprises – and accordingly, drone types – are already delivering results. We are working with our partners to secure more substantial funding, and I am confident we will get it. Production volumes of interceptors are already increasing.
Today, there was an extensive report on our sanctions policy, specifically in regard to the areas affecting Russia's economic capabilities in our temporarily occupied territories. We are preparing relevant National Security and Defense Council decisions.
Today, we also have a new sanctions package adopted by our state, targeting individuals and legal entities who help Russia, including with drone production. We will continue this pressure together with our partners. Our sanctions will be extended by our partners – we are working on that, and, by the way, not only in European jurisdictions.
And one more thing.
I’ve instructed the team to prepare some additional options for cooperation within the Coalition of the Willing – efforts that will strengthen our shared security architecture. Today, the Russians once again openly and absolutely cynically declared that they are “not in the mood” for a ceasefire. Russia wants to wage war. Even brandishing some threats. This means the pressure the world is applying isn’t hurting them enough yet, or they are trying very hard to keep up appearances. Well, the Russian economy is already crumbling. We will support this process even more. Ayatollah Putin can look at his friends in Iran to see where such regimes end up, and how far into decay they drive their countries. More of our decisions will follow, for the sake of restoring security. I thank everyone who is helping us! I thank all our people!
Glory to Ukraine!