Thank you so much, dear Minister!
First of all, I want to thank all of you – all the defense ministers and all the defense leaders here today.
Secretary General Rutte, Minister Pistorius, and with us today, as the Minister said already, is the new UK Defence Secretary Jarvis – it is good to see you, and I wish you success in your new role.
Some of you, dear friends, I remember from the very first days of this war. Some ministers have changed over time. But what matters, and what has never changed, is our determination, our cooperation, and our support for one another. You always look for ways to help, and you find them. And because of you, thousands and thousands of lives have been saved.
Dear friends, thank you. I am glad that this format remains as active as it needs to be. Thank you so much!
It is important that we are meeting right after such a strong G7 Summit in France.
We had good meetings and talks with all the leaders, including President Trump. The President of the United States is very clear about increasing pressure on Russia to end this terrible war Russia has brought against Ukraine and all of Europe. And this is also the shared position of all G7 leaders. We are grateful for this unity.
We have the tools, and they are strong enough to put Russia on a path where diplomacy becomes the only choice.
We all see that Putin is now relying on one last thing: constant missile attacks. He has ballistic missiles. So we need anti-ballistic capabilities.
We’ve done a lot to defend against drones, and our interception rate is above 90 percent. That is a serious, very serious achievement. We are also defending against cruise missiles. But Russian ballistic missiles remain a problem, and we need an answer to that problem.
So today, Ukraine and Germany are taking a very important, I think, important joint step. We have some technologies, Germany has some technologies, and today our defense ministers already signed an agreement to bring these capabilities together.
In Ukraine, we have a company that is capable of producing ballistic missiles – Firepoint is moving toward this. And you have the capable companies as well. We have discussed this many times at the leaders’ level. There will be meetings at the NSA level. And we have already had meetings at the CEO level. So let us do this for our common defense – as quickly as possible.
And we invite all countries to contribute to these common efforts as much as possible.
Our anti-ballistic coalition – all the countries that are part of it – must demonstrate full capability and deliver real results – better this year. By this winter, we should already see concrete outcomes from our joint work on anti-ballistic defense.
This is something we all need, not only Ukraine. It is a long-term effort. Please support it at every level and in every possible way.
I thank all of you who support our work through the PURL program. Thanks, Mark, for your personal involvement. Thank you very much. Right now, it is making a real difference, alongside all of our bilateral cooperation. Sometimes these deliveries make the difference literally day by day. When we know that Russia is preparing a massive strike against Ukraine, and we are able to receive Patriot missiles the day before that attack, it helps save lives. So timing matters.
I know that some countries have already prepared decisions on new contributions to PURL. I am very grateful for this. Please, let us implement these decisions as quickly as possible.
We have heard that some countries would like to announce their contributions to PURL at the Summit in Ankara this year, but that is still several weeks away. Let us make these important decisions here, at this meeting, so that we can deliver the weapons needed for protection.
Russia attacks Ukraine every day. So please do not postpone, even by a single day, what can be done through PURL today.
Dear friends,
You’ve probably all seen how Russia struck the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra with drones. It is one of the most important Christian holy sites not only in our region, but for the entire Christian world. It was from the Lavra and the hills of Kyiv that Christianity spread eastward across our part of Europe. Attacking such places is, in fact, a crime against humanity.
Of course, we are preparing our responses to such Russian attacks. And today you can see one of those responses – in the Moscow region this morning.
So our long-range sanctions are hitting Russian oil facilities and refineries very effectively. Russia is already facing fuel shortages and their federal budget revenues are falling significantly.
And at the same time, our mid-range strikes are seriously disrupting Russian military logistics.
But Putin is not stopping this war. He insists on continuing it. So the pressure must grow.
Every project supporting Ukrainian drones and our weapons production – in Ukraine and together, of course, with you, with partners – and every sanctions measure against Russia for this war, – all of it must grow.
Of course, we are ready to share our experience more actively. Already within our Drone Deal format, 15 NATO countries and 12 non-NATO countries are involved. These are different regions of the world, and we need to be active everywhere.
Let us use today’s meeting to discuss, at the team level, what is needed to speed up this work.
Everyone can see that Ukrainians are strong. And I am grateful to all your service members, and to everyone at the political level, and to everyone in your defense ministries who treats Ukraine and Ukrainian soldiers with respect. And more than once I have heard that it is not only Ukraine that needs the support of Europe and all the other countries represented here, and in our other coalitions – you also need Ukraine. This is true, and it matters.
Everyone is interested in Ukraine’s experience, in what we can do, and in how we are holding back Russian aggression. Now, at the military level, we work closely together.
But too often, including within NATO structures, our representatives feel that there is a limit to what is possible in our cooperation. This limits both us and you. Let us integrate more at every level of our defense cooperation, in our structures and in the Alliance, so that both – we and you – have more opportunities to protect lives.
Please, let us prepare strong decisions and stronger cooperation for the Summit in Ankara, so that the political level of our partnership matches reality. People can see that Ukraine is with you. We should also see that you recognize it.
Dear friends,
Yesterday, I raised two urgent issues with Mark. The first is the number of unmanned ground vehicles. The second is long-range artillery ammunition.
Right now, there is not enough of either. We need both urgently.
The funding being allocated for this is not enough. The quantities Europe is producing are not enough. What the Ukrainian army is receiving is not enough. But we can increase all of this. The capacity is there.
Right now, Russia is paying for continuing this war with losses of at least 30,000 soldiers every month on the frontline – killed and seriously wounded. And this number will grow as we improve our ability to stop Russian attacks.
All types of drones are showing strong results, and our infantry and other units are fighting effectively and bravely. It is important to keep supporting this.
Today, the Ukrainian army is effectively the main army in Europe that can deter and resist large-scale aggression over a long period of time. And after this war, this must remain the case.
The existence of such an army should help prevent any future aggressive moves by Putin. That is why we need to start thinking now about how to provide the funding the Ukrainian army will need in the years ahead.
I thank the European Union for the €90 billion support package, which will help a lot. It's true. I also thank all of you for your bilateral support decisions.
But I also ask you to develop the necessary financial instruments for the years ahead – to ensure the Ukrainian army remains strong enough. This would make European defense much stronger, and it would benefit all of you.
If we want Europe to have the strongest army, one that can truly respond to any threat, this is only possible with long-term cooperation with Ukraine and long-term support for the Ukrainian army. This is a realistic new security architecture for us, for Europe.
Let us start thinking about this now. Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for your huge support – from me, from our people, from our soldiers.
Glory to Ukraine!
Thank you.
