Thank you so much, Pedro! Thank you for such strong words of support and so kind words about our people. And I think that we are not so far from each other. Really. Our nations are very close. We are very thankful to your nation for the support during all this long terrible war.
Dear Prime Minister,
Dear leaders, dear friends,
First of all it's the first time Ukraine takes part in such a meeting, in a meeting with the leaders of the Ibero-American Summit. Thank you very much for the invitation, Pedro, Mr. Prime Minister. And thank you for this chance to talk and thanks for bringing us together. And thank you all for being here, and for your strong, clear, and principled position, principled support for Ukraine and our independence, of course. First of all independence, freedom, democracy. This is very important.
Your countries stand with us, including at the UN – Secretary. You are part of coalitions that help make Ukraine stronger. And you support exactly what the world needs today – countries working together, helping each other, and bringing more peace to the world. We truly appreciate it.
Today, I want to focus on three key things.
First. It is important that international support for Ukraine stays strong. And this matters not only for us. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a global issue.
If Putin manages to steal part of our land, break our sovereignty, and then – somehow – make it look legal – and get the world to accept it, such steps, or even recognize Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia as his territory – this would break the whole system of borders around the world. Just think about it.
If this becomes possible for Russia, what would stop others from doing the same? Of course, we cannot let this happen. We must stand by the principles of the UN Charter, and these rules matter for every country – big or small.
Second. I urge you to be as loud as possible when it comes to the killings – real killings, the mass killings of our people. Every single day, Russians kill Ukrainians with their bombs, missiles, and “shahed” drones – dozens of people every week. Now, in just one of our Ukrainian villages, where Russians dropped around ten bombs, rescue teams are still digging through the rubble, pulling people out. The village is called Komyshuvakha. And almost the whole world is silent about it. In this one village, in just one day, nearly a hundred people may have been killed by Russian bombs. So far, 43 bodies have been pulled from the rubble. Another 53 people are still missing. They were all inside a school building, where people had come to receive humanitarian aid. The Russians knew exactly what they were hitting. Please, do not stay silent about crimes like this. This is what is happening in this war.
And this continues only because one person – Putin – does not want to give the order to stop.
We’ve just had a humanitarian operation in Oleshky, which we coordinated together with the First Lady of the United States. And this operation proved something very simple – when Putin wants the fighting to stop, it stops. There was real silence. No attacks. For some days. And we saved hundreds of lives.
And the same goes for our people held in Russian captivity. When Putin wants, they come home – back. It’s true. And the same goes for our children kidnapped by Russia. Dozens of thousands. A huge number of children.
This is one of the most horrible parts of this war. Russians have taken thousands of Ukrainian children from our land. And now we see something even worse. Russia has already started sending some of these children – children they stole from us, who have grown up during this war, grown up over these years – into the Russian army. This is horrible, and it must stop.
And the only way to make it stop is to make sure the world knows what is happening.
So please, speak up. Talk about it. Keep bringing it up. Make sure the world hears about these crimes. Our team and our diplomats are ready to give you all the information you need.
And third. This war has changed the technology of attack and defense forever. That’s a fact. Today, no country can be truly safe without strong drone systems, drone technologies, and electronic warfare. And this is not just about war.
It’s about protecting borders. Keeping the seas safe. Protecting territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. For every country. It’s also about protecting difficult areas – mountains, forests, and places that are hard to control. And these technologies can also help save lives during natural disasters.
Drones can do all of this. They can watch, protect, and stop criminals or enemies. And modern electronic warfare systems are just as important.
In Ukraine, we have learned how to do this. And we can produce several times more drones than we currently have the money to pay for. We are building joint production with our partners. We are ready to share our experience, our technology, and the systems we have developed.
We have a format called Drone Deals. And I invite every country that wants more security to join us. We have other ways to work together as well. What Ukraine needs most is stronger air defense and everything that comes with it.
Now, one of our biggest challenges is Russia’s attacks on our power plants and electricity grid. Russians are using “shahed” drones and missiles to hit even the energy equipment that our nuclear power plants depend on. Every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged in one way or another by attacks.
Our people are working 24/7 to fix the damage and restore power. Thousands of repair crews, workers from our energy companies – ordinary people doing heroic things every day – they are the ones keeping Russia from pushing Ukraine into a total blackout.
So we need as much international cooperation as possible to keep rebuilding and repairing our energy system. And we urgently need more equipment. We need transformers, and power cables, modern electrical equipment, and different generators – both diesel and gas. We know that companies in Spain and Latin America can help with this, and can support us with this. We are interested in transformers from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, power cables from Chile, and electrical equipment, cables, and generators from Spain.
Sorry that I'm going too much into details, but it's so important. We need equipment that works with our power grid. And we need it fast. So please support us directly to have connections with your companies, with your production, and get these supplies to Ukraine as quickly as possible. Let's make it happen.
I'm so thankful, dear Petro, for the invitation. It's an honor to see all your friends and such strong partners.
