Fellow Ukrainians!
Today, it is important to say a few things. First: this afternoon in Kyiv, near the memorial to the victims of the genocidal deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, together with the First Lady of Ukraine, together with our diplomats, the team of the President’s Office, and representatives of the Mejlis, we honored the memory of all those who died in those terrible days of 1944. And in the years and decades that followed, when the Crimean Tatar people lived in exile. It was one of the most brutal and systemic crimes of the Soviet authorities. Against people, against ordinary people who were simply being themselves and living on their own land – in Crimea – and who were able to return only decades later. We remember. We honor them. And importantly, we do not bow our heads and we do not surrender to the enemy now – effectively the same enemy that came for the freedom of nations in the 20th century, and earlier, and now wants to take freedom away from Ukraine and from all those who are near Russia. We are defending ourselves – defending Ukraine. And this is not the first time Ukrainian independence has needed protection, but in our time, this protection is the most effective. We are bringing Russia’s war of aggression back home – to the only place it came from. And everyone sees our entirely justified responses to Russian terror – to all the strikes against Ukraine – and we are scaling up our responses. There was a time when dozens of Ukrainian drones striking Russia was a big deal. Now, hundreds of our long-range sanctions every day are no longer a sensation, but they are always welcome and useful news.
Today, there was an intelligence report on Russian losses caused by our sanctions. 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. Given the nature of Russian oil production, this is what hurts them most – apart, of course, from losing money. To restore production at its wells, Russia has to do significantly more than many other oil-producing countries that shut in wells even simply in response to market fluctuations. The Russians cannot do that. For them, losing production is truly very painful. As for Russia’s overall state revenues – thanks to our comprehensive pressure at all levels – within the first five months of this year, their deficit has already grown far beyond what they had planned for the entire year. Putin has, of course, built a war chest – but certainly not enough to fight indefinitely. Every one of our responses, every joint step of pressure together with our partners, pushes Russia closer to ending its war. Already now, a significant number of their regions are in a state of bankruptcy, and Putin is leading Russia toward bankruptcy. And the various schemes they come up with to make money will not help them. We see these Russian schemes. We are documenting them. We will break them. I am grateful to many of our friends – friends of Ukraine, friends of our intelligence – who are helping with this. I am grateful to all our warriors – and to every Ukrainian weapons manufacturer – for making the aggressor feel pain, and for ensuring that every victim in Ukraine of Russia’s strikes, of Russian state madness, does not remain without just retribution. I have approved new operations for our special services and our Defense Forces of Ukraine.
One more point.
Today, we held a pretty long and detailed meeting with government officials and our members of parliament on personnel issues that need to be resolved. There needs to be more active internal work in the state. In addition, there are things in the diplomatic corps that require replacement and correction. We will address all this in the coming weeks. I want to thank everyone who stands with us, with Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!