I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
Today, I received a report from our negotiating team following the second day of their meetings in America with envoys of the President of the United States. Actually, it’s two days of meetings: yesterday afternoon and evening, and today as well. It is clear that the attention of the American side at this time is primarily focused on the situation around Iran and in that region, but this war of Russia against Ukraine must also be brought to an end. This is understood the same way by everyone in the world, and I am very grateful to American society for its clear support for a normal, dignified peace for Ukraine. It is important to ensure that the aggressor is not rewarded for this war. And it is important that none of us is forced to return to war in a few months or years, which means that security guarantees for Ukraine and for all of Europe must be sufficient for peace – for a reliable peace. I expect that after our negotiating team returns to Ukraine, we will discuss in detail all aspects of the meetings, which for now cannot be safely discussed over the phone. There are signals that further exchanges may be possible, and this would indeed be very good news and confirmation that diplomacy is working. We hope this will happen.
Overall, the situation remains quite clear: Putin does not want to end the war. But the key thing is what the world wants. We must all do everything possible together – and we will continue to do everything possible – to end the war.
There was also a report today from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov. Detailed updates on all sectors of the front. In some areas, the Russians have significantly stepped up their activity in recent days – taking advantage of the weather – and there have been more assaults. But this also means higher Russian losses. Over this week alone, there have already been over eight thousand occupiers killed or seriously wounded. They also carried out mechanized assaults. Our drones are performing well, and the positions of our army are strong. I thank every one of our soldiers, sergeants, and officers – every brigade – for the results for Ukraine.
And I would like to separately recognize all our defenders of the sky – this is our daily, constant priority. Especially this week, our gratitude goes to the warriors of the 96th Kyiv Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, all our electronic warfare units, the crews of army aviation helicopters, and, of course, our F-16 and Mirage pilots, as well as every interceptor drone crew – and in particular, the crews of the 1020th Anti-Aircraft Missile and Artillery Regiment and the 302nd Kharkiv Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. Thank you, warriors! Thank you for the fact that Ukraine’s experience in defending the skies is one of the strongest in the world, and that it will certainly keep Ukraine among the leading contributors to security even after this war – among those the world will need to ensure security. Only with Ukraine is real stability possible here in Europe – real protection. And, as we can see, in other parts of the world as well, which clearly need our experience and our support in protecting lives. We are already working with the Gulf countries, and in fact, every day at the team level, we are in contact with these countries to ensure that our experience and our support grow into long-term cooperation and respect for Ukraine and our warriors. There are already concrete results from our units in defense – we are providing our expertise and our real support. Other countries of the world should now also make their contribution to stabilization. And we know from our intelligence how much it irritates Russia that Ukrainians are needed by the world, and that Ukrainians can help bring about stabilization. We all need joint decisions and joint work so that there is more security for everyone. I thank everyone who contributes to coordination and shared results. This is exactly what is most unacceptable for those like Russia – when countries of the world are not left alone, and when peoples are not left alone with the occupier. Thank you to everyone who stands with us, who stands with Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!