Thank you very much.
I wish everyone good health.
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the heroes!
Our dear Ukrainians,
Dear team, the wonderful, strong, technological UNITED24 team, all our UNITED24 ambassadors who are here with us today.
And I’ve already had a chance to speak with some of you.
Liev, thank you that you are here.
Katheryn, Oleksandr, José. It is a great pleasure, and I’m very glad that you are here.
You saw all our ambassadors in that video. And it is very heartening that we have so many people like this – genuine, values-driven people. People who are so prominent in this world, with such big hearts. I don’t know each of your roots in depth, but I am sure that you have Ukrainian hearts. Thank you for that. And Mstyslav is with us today. He is not an ambassador yet, but he is on his way to becoming one. Thank you very much. This is important.
It is important for us to keep our ambassadors who are truly sincere, who have truly been helping from the first days of the war. It sounds absurd when we put it that way, but it is true. From the first days of the war, they have been doing everything to help us achieve peace. That is such a difficult task. I thank you. And we cannot afford to lose you, your voices.
And, of course, we need strong, talented, very well-known people – and most importantly, values-driven and sincere people – as new ambassadors. So, Mstyslav, time is passing...
I want to thank all of you. Everyone who is here. Those who are not here, and those who are with us. Everyone who chose Ukraine’s side in this war. So that we stand firm – we will stand firm. And so that we win – and we will win. I am absolutely certain of that.
I thank all of you for making it possible for the UNITED24 platform – Ukraine’s state fundraising platform – to be in its fifth year. It is a tool that helps us all, helps Ukraine build thousands of strong and heartfelt, I would even say, connections around the world. Even countries that do not support us politically are represented in UNITED24 fundraisers and campaigns – thanks to people. Everything is always about people, thanks to ordinary people who are at the same time extraordinary, exceptional because they care. Caring people who live in these very countries donate through UNITED24 and in this way support us, support the defense of life in Ukraine.
Today, 145 countries are with us through UNITED24. I congratulate the UNITED24 team – this is a very serious result. Thank you. And, of course, thank you to our millions of donors – ordinary people, and that is a lot of people. As well as very well-known UNITED24 ambassadors, many businesses among the donors from around the world, humanitarian organizations, and even ordinary schools in many countries where children raise funds for UNITED24. Children. Children are our life.
We always say… You know that in Ukrainian there is this phrase: children are our future. But this story of UNITED24, this story of survival, of standing firm in this war against the aggressor, against all this evil, shows that the children who have been helping so much throughout this entire war, everywhere, who help, as you can see, through UNITED24, who donate, and the children who help inside our country, show that children are, in fact, our present life. They are not only our future, but also our present.
And I am proud of our Ukrainian children for having this quality that already – there is no such word in Ukrainian – there is in English: resilience. And we say that we have such resilient children in Ukraine. And I am very proud that beyond our country's borders there are such strong, values-driven children who help us. We thank our children.
It is an extraordinarily large community of people who care about what happens to us, to Ukraine. First and foremost, they care about what happens to a human being. And this is a very serious quality of the modern world. After all those technologies, after all the different trials, and everything else that exists in the world. But remaining human – that is very powerful. I think that is something very valuable. I am so glad that I live in such a country and in such a world.
And I truly believe that this is not simply or only about our country. When people help defend life here, it also contributes to protecting life and providing long-term security guarantees in every country around the world. Russia’s war against our state is a test run – precisely a test run – for war against any state. I am sure of this. I know that some of our, by the way, very close European countries do not like this point. They are very afraid to talk about it. They are afraid that there is a war in Ukraine, and that the war could go further, spread by Putin – yes, spread by Putin across the world. I know they do not like it, but I believe we need to speak about this absolutely honestly, openly, frankly. Talk about it. And, however this may sound, be prepared. And, unfortunately, Russia is not the only country in the world that seeks to deny others their independence, exert influence over them, control people, and violate their rights. It is not the only country that wants to destroy others. That is why absolutely everyone who comes together to defend life is needed, is important, and deserves our gratitude.
The largest contributions through UNITED24 have come from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Norway, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Lithuania, Türkiye, Singapore, Paraguay, El Salvador, Guinea-Bissau. And some of the countries whose people support us we shouldn’t even, perhaps we cannot, I think, name publicly, because this support comes from ordinary people – and we do not want to create problems for those very people because of the immoral position their governments have taken toward Russia, its aggression and this war. And this is one of the most important results, by the way, of the work of UNITED24 and our other effective Ukrainian volunteer communities – they make it possible to support Ukraine for those ordinary but very important people whose countries are unable to stand on the right side of history. Since UNITED24 was founded back in 2022 and through today, as already mentioned, nearly 4 billion dollars has been raised for Ukraine’s needs through this fundraising platform alone. This is more than just a result. Three billion seven hundred million dollars has gone specifically toward Ukraine’s defense. Toward technological solutions, first and foremost, of course, that save lives – drones, UGVs, and other systems that help prevent the loss of life.
Today also marks one year since the launch of the UNITED24 app. Through the app, donors have the opportunity to directly support our well-known units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are many of them – Magyar’s Birds, Achilles, K-2, Phoenix, and others. Please don’t take this the wrong way – we have many strong units, and I won’t name them all, but we all know you, and we’re very proud of you.
UNITED24 also provides support to other units. I thank you for all these results. And equally important is that humanitarian initiatives are also working. We very often talk about technology and about how technological this war is. We talk and very often forget about people. Because all these technologies – all of this is people. People first and foremost. And that is why humanitarian initiatives are very important.
And people donate, people support, people create all of this, engineer, defend, help as they can, work. And that is why UNITED24 has very good results in humanitarian initiatives.
This includes reconstruction and the supply of medical equipment – hundreds of ambulances – thank you very much – infant incubators for our youngest citizens – thank you very much for this – support for Ukrainian education, humanitarian demining, and support for the energy resilience of our communities. Constant, year-round support, not only when things are difficult, not only in winter – the procurement of generators and various other equipment. All of this is extremely important. And importantly, it is from people, for people.
Every donation, every expression of support for Ukraine from different parts of the world creates a lasting emotional connection with Ukraine – faith in us, in Ukrainians, faith in Ukraine and in the values that inspire our people to defend themselves in this war and achieve the daily results that are so important to us during this war.
I want to thank all of you. I sincerely thank UNITED24 – UNITED24, truly, the platform, the people behind it, of course, who truly work for Ukraine 24/7 – and on a global scale.
I wish everyone new successful campaigns and great projects to strengthen our state, to save lives. We will push through no matter what. We will win no matter what.
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the heroes!
