Speeches

July 15. Ukraine marks Ukrainian Statehood Day. We are proud to be the heirs of Kyivan Rus and the Cossack state, and to have a thousand years of experience in building our state. A thousand years of courage, of the desire to live in freedom, to live as a sovereign and independent nation, to follow only our own path, and to be who we are – to be Ukraine, to be Ukrainians. We are proud of what everyone has witnessed throughout the full-scale war – Ukraine’s thousand-year-old character.

It should not take weeks to move from announcing a support package for Ukraine to delivering it. And this is the responsibility of everyone in the state involved, above all, in diplomatic efforts.

This command must concentrate 100% of the available resources on degrading Russia’s warfighting potential even more. The commander in charge of this direction will be strong and certainly highly experienced.

It is about providing the strongest possible protection, first of all – protection for hundreds of millions of Europeans. And that protection is needed today, not years from now.

We have proven to all our partners both the need, and more importantly, the possibility of providing greater protection of lives. It is simply nonsensical that, in today’s world, production has still not been scaled up to the level that is actually needed to protect people from ballistic terror.

Missiles for Patriots are a priority, and, of course, we understand that the political will of the United States would certainly be enough to make up for the Patriot shortage, but so far, there is not enough of that support. We will keep persuading through all channels.

Please keep helping us protect our people through your political leadership and practical decisions. Please also support our efforts for diplomacy – so that this war ends through negotiations, not through more destruction, which is exactly what Russia wants. Help make sure our air defense – our Patriot systems – never, never run out of the missiles they need. That is what saves lives.

Putin still intends to “vanquish” residential buildings rather than end this war. And this can be countered both through sufficient supplies of anti-ballistic systems and through much faster work to develop Europe’s own anti-ballistic capabilities.

Russia must be placed in a situation where, apart from peace, it has no other option. We very much hope that support from our partners – in particular from the EU – will remain tangible, timely, and courageous.

The EU has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to be a force that brings more stability, more predictability, and basic respect for human life – the kind of life everyone wants for themselves, their children, and their families.