Speeches

Kyivan Rus’ is the mother of our history. 24 regions of Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula are her own children. And they are rightfully her heirs. And cousins and very distant relatives should not encroach on her legacy. They should not try to prove their involvement in the history of thousands of years and thousands of events, being from the places where they took place thousands of kilometers away.

I really want the time to come when the meetings of the National Security and Defense Council will be held not once a week, but once a year. And the agenda of these meetings will contain only one item - nobody and nothing threatens Ukraine. It is for this purpose that we continue our daily work, active defense of our state and restoration of justice.

Following the adoption of the law on thieves in law, the strategy for combating organized crime and nine months of work, personal sanctions have been applied against 557 thieves in law currently known in the world. Most of them are not in Ukraine. And the number of those at liberty in Ukraine has halved: from 34 to 17 people. Today we did everything to make this figure zero. In the near future and forever.

With faith in this, with hope for peace, we thank and bow today to all Ukrainians who defended and liberated our land from the Nazis in World War II.

Today, the whole world and all world leaders must show that humanity has learned the lesson of 1939-1945 forever. That it is aware of the consequences of war and will never allow this to happen again.

Today, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, personal sanctions have been introduced, in particular assets and property of persons who, according to the Security Service and the National Security and Defense Council, can be called the top ten Ukrainian smugglers were blocked. I want to emphasize that the fight against smuggling will be continued, today it is the top ten, but certainly not the last.

A regular meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine took place today. We continue to restore justice where someone believed that his personal financial appetites could be stronger than the interests of the state and the people of Ukraine, and that his own pockets were more important than the state treasury.

It is no secret that the latest decisions of the National Security and Defense Council have caused considerable resonance. Public approval and, of course, indignation of those who find their names and businesses in the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council. Today I will summarize the preliminary results, set the record straight and explain in simple language to you - our citizens of Ukraine, what exactly is happening.

Today I signed a decree on certain measures aimed at deoccupation and reintegration of the Crimean peninsula. In particular, the government is tasked with organizing and launching the Crimean Platform. I sincerely believe that the day will come when I will be able to repeal my own decree - simply because it will lose its relevance and Crimea will return to Ukraine.

And no less important - we have good news about the vaccine against COVID-19. Vaccination will begin in February. We expect that Ukraine will soon receive one million doses of the vaccine - the first million - from a leading international company. We will be able to announce the details shortly.