Speeches

Importantly, the Coalition now has substantive documents in place. This is not just rhetoric – there is concrete progress: a joint declaration by all Coalition countries, and a trilateral declaration by France, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

The SSU’s potential will grow further – specifically in the context of defending Ukraine, protecting our positions, and safeguarding national interests. Thank you to everyone who works in this way.

Ukraine will be prepared for both possible paths ahead – diplomacy, which we are pursuing, or continued active defense if the pressure from our partners on Russia proves insufficient.

Kyrylo Budanov has been appointed Head of the Office of the President. Kyrylo’s experience and strength are enough to steer the Office’s work toward security matters and the negotiation process exactly as needed. I have also decided to change the working format of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. I have proposed to Mykhailo Fedorov that he become the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

Rustem Umerov is holding meetings in Türkiye – with the Foreign Minister of Türkiye and, next, with the intelligence services. We are working very hard to resume prisoner exchanges in the new year – this is precisely the key topic in our talks with Türkiye.

We believe in peace, we fight for it, and we work for it. And we will continue to do so. Because in 2026, we truly want that the skies be calm and the land peaceful; that warmth and light fill our homes – and not 170, but the full 220, as it should be; that all our people return home – from the front, from captivity, from occupation; that we stand; that Ukraine stands.

Today, we also spoke for nearly an hour with envoys of the U.S. President – Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. It was a truly good conversation: we went into many details.

We mark Christmas in a difficult time. Sadly, not all of us are at home this evening. Sadly, not everyone still has a home. And sadly, not everyone is with us tonight. But despite all the suffering that Russia has brought, it is not capable of occupying or bombing what matters most. That is our Ukrainian heart, our faith in one another, and our unity.

We are working actively and doing everything necessary to ensure that the documents come to fruition and that they are realistic. The key is that Russia must not sabotage this diplomacy and must take ending the war 100% seriously.

It is important that the American side be able to elicit a response from Russia – a genuine willingness by that state to focus on something other than aggression.