Speeches

Odesa deserves greater protection and greater support. This can be done in the format of a military administration – too many security issues in Odesa have remained without an adequate response for far too long.

I urge you to advocate in your parliaments and governments for stronger air defenses and the missiles we need. And the decisions are needed in the coming weeks – on both systems and missiles. Russia must learn it cannot terrorize any country with impunity.

We are working closely with the United States to strengthen ourselves – our air defense, all our defensive capabilities: primarily Patriots, other systems, as well as our active operations and long-range capabilities.

We count on the United States and all our partners to continue acting decisively and exerting strong pressure so that our people feel support, have protection, and Ukraine can stand strong.

All day long, recovery efforts have been underway following the Russian strike. It’s a great deal of work. Electricity has already been restored for more than 725,000 families.

The task now is to be significantly more active in everything related to the preparation and execution of long-range sanctions against Russia. The more effective Ukraine is in long-range capabilities, the sooner we will be able to achieve peace.

There was also a long report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi – we spent nearly an hour with him going through all frontline directions, our brigade preparations, and supplies. Right now, the focus is naturally on the Dobropillia operation, our counteroffensive.

Yesterday at the Staff meeting, we decided to allocate additional funding and equipment to the regions that need it most. These are, specifically, our frontline and border regions. All of this is already underway.

There were also reports on the deployment of additional air defense capabilities – a comprehensive protection – delivered by military commanders, as well as a detailed discussion on the protection of energy facilities and specific communities. We resolved these issues and fulfilled all requests from the heads of the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions first of all – requests for financial and other assistance.

Our Ukrainian weaponry is among the most effective in Europe, and we are ready to produce far more modern weapons. To do that, we need appropriate financing. I thank the Netherlands for supporting our production programs.