Wishing you good health!
A brief update for today. In all regions where it’s needed, repair crews and necessary services have been deployed to carry out restoration work. The situation is most difficult in Kyiv right now, primarily with heating, and there are also major electricity problems. Crews from many of our regions, practically from all over the country, have been brought in to assist Kyiv, including from frontline areas, ready to help. I also want to thank for the help from Ukrzaliznytsia, other state-owned companies, and the entire private sector – everyone supporting the people. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is providing hot meals in Kyiv districts where this is needed. Just in the past 24 hours, 6,200 people in Kyiv and 22,000 people in the Kyiv region received hot meals. We are ready to scale up this assistance if necessary. I expect reports on all the tasks assigned for work with partners. Equipment should have been sourced and procured well before this winter, and Kyiv city authorities must act much faster now to make life easier for people, at least in February, especially since everyone in the government is ready to help.
I receive regular updates on the situation in Chernihiv, Sumy, and Dnipro regions. In Kryvyi Rih, heating was being restored throughout the day – this morning, more than two hundred buildings were still without heat following a Russian strike. Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia regions – I want to thank everyone working to keep people warm and supplied with electricity. There are also significant outages in Poltava, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia, and Chernivtsi regions.
I spoke with the President of France. Emmanuel acknowledged the challenges we face. We discussed the assistance Ukraine needs most urgently right now. We are counting on Europe’s support. It is crucial that leaders and states do not remain silent about what is happening, do not remain silent about the fact that the Russians are still trying to inflict as much pain as possible on Ukrainians, regardless of any diplomacy.
We also know that the Russians are preparing a new strike – our intelligence indicates this. Now the United States, Europe, and all our partners have to understand how this discredits diplomatic talks. Every single Russian strike does. Today, in the Kyiv region, the Russians killed a woman and her husband. People were simply in their own apartment. My condolences to their family and loved ones. A four-year-old child was rescued. I want to thank Maryan Kushnir, a journalist at Radio Liberty, a war correspondent, who acted courageously and saved this little girl. Much depends on the fact that our people do not lose courage. The day before, the Russians struck an ordinary civilian train with drones. There were fatalities and injuries. On that train was a Ukrainian sergeant – a warrior of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade – Vladyslav Rozhkovskyi, call sign Omar. He did not panic and spared no effort to help others. I want to thank you, Vladyslav! I thank everyone who is doing everything possible – and the impossible – right now to save as many people, as many lives, as they can. Today, I spoke with Tata Kepler – a Ukrainian volunteer who has contributed greatly to the development of our tactical medicine and to saving the lives of our warriors. Ukrainian surgeons, Ukrainian doctors are performing incredible operations, saving lives amid war. This expertise must be scaled up, and it must be supported – not just with words, but with decisions and through the development of our state institutions. We agreed that Tata, together with currently serving military medics, will propose ways to advance the preparation of our warriors, specifically in medical skills: treating injuries, combat trauma, helping a brother or sister-in-arms, conducting faster and better evacuations, and making Ukrainian tactical medicine even stronger. There is much to be done, and there is expertise that must be shared. I thank everyone who is working on this effort.
There was a briefing from Major General Khmara, focused primarily on the combat operations of the Security Service of Ukraine, including both our frontline – particularly the actions of our Alpha unit – and the entirely justified SSU activities on the aggressor’s territory in response to all strikes, in response to all the Russian evil that came to our land. I am proud of our special forces. We also discussed oversight of all processes in military production. Absolute clarity is essential, and everything Ukraine needs must be produced exactly as Ukraine requires, without any chance for Russian sabotage or any internal rot: corruption or similar abuses. Much of this is the responsibility of the Security Service of Ukraine – to ensure real integrity in these processes.
And one more thing.
When there are so many diplomatic efforts to end this war – when the Americans are negotiating with the Russians and the Europeans are trying as well – all this diplomacy must carry real weight for the people, real significance in the current situation. When Russian strikes continue, when assaults are ongoing, it is hard for people to feel that diplomacy is constructive or can produce results. Everyone who truly wants peace must think about how to ensure that the Russians are preparing not for new massive attacks but for ending the war. The world has the power to make this happen. We just need to use that power – for the sake of peace. I thank everyone who approaches the situation exactly this way.
Glory to Ukraine!