Speeches

For us, it has always been very important what societies think – what societies think about what is happening, and whether ordinary people feel, in a broad sense, what we are fighting for; whether they feel what we are fighting for here, in Ukraine, and what would threaten others if Ukraine had not held out.

We are working with all our partners on air defense for Ukraine – clearly, this is the first priority.

It is critically important to continue working to secure air defense for Ukraine, especially anti-ballistic capabilities. Having Russia next door is a constant threat, and our people in Ukraine will hold that threat back and are stopping it. But the world should clearly see who it is dealing with. This is the fifth year of the full-scale war, and from its very first seconds, it has been Russia’s unprovoked, terrorist war against life.

It is only right that Russia is losing oil export revenues. It was precisely oil and gas that made Russia so arrogant that it now allows itself to wage war in the modern world and continue to threaten all others. All forms of sanctions against Russia and its accomplices must continue to function.

I am grateful to all our Airborne Assault Forces and our assault troops. I am grateful to all units that are effectively repelling Russian assaults. I also thank everyone who supports our army and our Security Forces.

There were many questions from communities bordering Belarus. And, of course, air defense must be strengthened very significantly – exactly as people said. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine knows this priority – there must be an allocation of additional equipment, and there will be. We have this capability. I expect a report on the results.

This is important – very important for us. Ukraine has fulfilled everything required for this progress. We are also already closer to the launch of the European support program for Ukraine, worth €90 billion.

This month saw changes in the dynamics in our favor, in Ukraine’s favor. We are holding more positions and inflicting more damage.

In just recent months, Russia’s oil refining has dropped by 10%. It is also important to note that Russian oil companies are being forced to shut down their oil wells. This is even more significant.

Today, the Defense Forces of Ukraine, our Security Service of Ukraine, and our intelligence carried out a large-scale operation targeting the Moscow region. A good wave of our deep strikes – we are ensuring that Ukraine has this capability. The distance to the targets this time was more than 500 kilometers, and this is significant also because the Moscow region is the most heavily saturated with Russian air defense systems.