Thank you very much,
Dear António, Ursula, Michael,
And all leaders of the European Union, our friends,
All Europeans,
I am grateful for your support for Ukraine. Thank you. We’ve been through a lot together – during these years of full-scale war. None of us wanted this war, absolutely none of us. But it is us who have to deal with its brutality and all the instability it has caused. Unity in defense is always built by many standing together. Without a determined European Union capable of making strong decisions Putin would have gone much further by now.
The European Union has not fallen apart. It has not backed down or given in to fear when it came to defending the European way of life. And that mattered just as much as the courage of Ukrainians.
Dear friends,
Europe is a continent of democracies. And year after year, things change – new leaders come to power, coalitions change, a lot happens. But what never changes? Year after year, Putin stays right where he is. And he keeps waging war. Some of today’s European leaders, some of today’s people running in elections and taking part in politics in your countries were still at school when Putin was already waging war. And even back when Bill Clinton was still President of the United States, Putin was already waging war. Against the Chechens. And that war taught Putin a lesson.
If he uses oil and gas to tempt the world, many politicians look the other way – even when cities are turned to rubble and villages are burned to the ground. That is exactly how Putin has been running things ever since. And he always has some “excuse” for why he can’t live in peace with one country or another.
And all this time, his real opponent has never been just one country.
His real enemy is an international order based on rules. A world where one sick man does not get to wage wars, kill people wherever he wants, and lie as much as he likes – just to stay in power for life.
That is why the EU – and your unity, and every truly independent European country – is a target for him. Not because you are doing something wrong. Not because someone once offended Russia or failed to give Putin something he wanted. Putin only gets along with those who want to wage wars themselves and have no respect for human life. If he wins, everything that holds you together and keeps your people living in peace will simply be gone. Look at what he has been saying all these years. He has a problem with everything that happened after 1985.
We don’t want to go back there.
It’s important that people understand this across the whole European Union – from Poland and Finland and all the Nordic countries to France, Spain, and Italy.
We may argue and disagree on politics. Sometimes we have serious disagreements over decisions. And that’s normal for democracies – I’m sure.
Despite all our differences, we all want the same thing – a security system that really works and can deal with today’s threats.
So, as we work now to finally stop Putin, to stop his war, we are doing this not just for Ukraine alone. We are working for security guarantees for all of Europe. For guarantees that this war will not be passed down to our children.
I am grateful to every one of you who does not miss the tanks that crushed the uprisings in Prague and Budapest – or the Berlin Wall.
I am grateful to every one of you who would never even think of giving up a European country just to buy another year or two of false calm before Putin comes back for his next target.
I am grateful to all of you who feel for Ukrainians when Russian “shahed” drones and missiles kill our people.
I am grateful to every one of you for the support that helps us recover from Russian attacks.
And I am grateful to all of you who are trying to keep Europe and the United States together. There are so many people with good hearts in America who sincerely want evil to lose and Ukraine to stand strong. These are the very hearts that helped Europe defend its freedom, and that fought on D-Day, won the Cold War, and want what is best for Europe. Hearts that want to be allies, not to divide or humiliate Europe. I believe most Americans still feel this way. And at the end of the day, the American people will have their say.
Putin will listen to America if America really turns up the heat on him and makes one thing clear – either he chooses peace, or he gets no more money for his war.
Dear leaders,
We all want this war to end as soon as possible. We want diplomacy to work. And it is important that we all keep working closely together and stay coordinated. We also have to be ready for what Putin is pushing us toward – with his ballistic missiles, his “shahed” drones, his endless, mindless assaults on the front line, his threats, and his attempts to weaken the world’s pressure on Russia.
Putin says he’s ready to stop the war. And what it really means, is Ukraine’s capitulation followed by its annihilation. Yet, he is ready to drag this war into the next year. We must be ready for this.
First. I urge you not to ease sanctions against Russia or anyone linked to it. Putin uses every trick he can find to get money for making more weapons. Everything he has – from oligarchs and the shadow fleet to all the schemes for bringing in parts and equipment to make drones and missiles – must be under sanctions and strict control. We warned that if sanctions are eased anywhere in Europe, others will quickly – we see it – take advantage of it. And now we can see how cash will start flowing back into Russia through the “Diesel Deal.”
This “Diesel Deal” will never be enough to offset the impact of the Strait of Hormuz on global markets. But it will put more money straight into Putin’s pocket to fund this war.
We need a strong 22nd EU sanctions package. And please, we need real sanctions against every company and every person involved in making Russian ballistic missiles, advanced communications systems and drones – and those involved in Russia’s financial system.
Second. Putin has now put together a federal budget to spend even more money on his war. We have to push back against this. And we know how to do it with technology. It costs much less and helps stop his operations against Ukraine and against you.
The war will cost 155 billion euros next year. And we need at least 70 billion euros more from you – for defense, for weapons, and for our resilience. This is a realistic amount.
And I ask you to find this support. It will help us hold Russia back.
There are some very simple facts. We stop most Russian assaults on the front line thanks to drones. We cut Russian supply lines with these technologies. And our drones are helping to weaken Russia’s economy.
Right now, we could produce two or three times more drones – depending on the type. But we simply don’t have enough money for that. It’s true. Just imagine if we could put two or three times more pressure on Russia than we do today.
Please, invest in defense, in our factories in Ukraine, and of course – in our joint production of drones and other weapons in your countries.
So we really need at least 70 billion euros additionally for next year.
Next point. You have a powerful tool – a tool to support Ukraine for years to come and to help us build a stronger European defense together. Russia’s frozen assets. Most of them are in European hands. It is great that we already have a European loan – thank you so much – backed, in fact, by Russian assets. It is working. It is helping. But we need to go further. We need to make sure all of these assets – the full amount – are protected and can actually be used. And believe me – if Europe does not make this move – it’s all about security – Putin will find the way to get his hands on that money. Then he will use, of course, the assets to fund his war against us and his operations against you.
And you can already see sabotage operations involving drones in Europe – what happened in Leipzig, Germany, what is happening on the land and in the sea of other European countries, and along the EU borders, where new threats keep coming. We cannot let him get more money.
So we need to deal with the frozen assets. We need something like a special EU-controlled custodian to reduce the risk of them being unfrozen and divided up among those who clearly do not want what is best for Europe or an end to this war.
Fourth. Please use every opportunity to strengthen our air defense.
Putin has started his winter operation against our energy system – massively, right now, in October. People are left without electricity because Russian ballistic missiles and drones keep hitting our energy, and water supplies, and energy facilities. I ask you to really focus on helping us get PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors. Ukraine can’t get by on just two or four missiles from a country every few months. Of course, we are thankful to all of you, but I think you have to understand. So please let what European countries already have be put to use to protect our lives.
We need a winter package – we always spoke about it between us – of missiles – 300 Patriot interceptors specifically against ballistic missiles.
And this is really important. Not just for Ukraine, but strategically – for what happens next, after this winter, to Ukraine and to all of Europe.
We also started our anti-ballistic program – FREYJA. It’s a Ukrainian program. And it’s a European program. It must become a tool against ballistic missiles that we can produce together in large numbers – effective, cheaper, affordable, easy to make, and easy to upgrade. And we will do it, of course, sharing all these technologies with all of you, dear partners.
And thank you to everyone already working hard on this program. FREYJA is moving forward. Let’s keep moving fast.
Europe needs to think seriously about its own technological independence.
We need to find better ways to protect our common interests in technology – to protect Europe in the tech world. And to develop everything that can make us stronger.
We are already joining forces in many areas. And we need to do more together – in sharing intelligence, satellite communications – it’s a challenge now – and developing new European technologies.
And a few more points.
I want to thank Ukrainian members of parliament and government officials who, despite all the difficulties, have made the decisions we need to move Ukraine closer to the European Union.
Ukraine is doing more than anyone else to move toward EU membership. We are fighting for ourselves and for the European way of life – in a real war, on the front line. Every single day, we fight off Russian attacks. At the same time, we are changing our country from within. And we stand up for Europe and always make sure European interests are heard around the world – at a time when some of the world’s most powerful players want the EU gone.
And look at what’s happening – almost every anti-EU movement here in Europe gets serious money and tech support from abroad.
Ukraine always pushes back against this. Loudly. And with real action. So please, let’s be stronger together on this.
And that’s not all.
We are doing a lot to keep our region stable. We are protecting Moldova from Russia’s attempts to cause trouble through Transnistria. This takes serious work from our security services and intelligence. We even have to pull some of our military forces away from other tasks to keep the risks in Transnistria under control and help Moldova stay stable and independent. And this is another way Ukraine makes Europe stronger.
When Ukraine and Moldova are moving so closely together – that’s great – when we are doing so much to support Moldova and create the conditions it needs – it would be simply wrong to split us apart on our way into the EU – I hope not. Morally wrong. And I want to thank all of you who understand this.
We are grateful that the EU is moving toward us. 4 EU accession clusters have already been opened this year. And we need to open the remaining 2 by the end of the year. We are ready. We are so thankful to you, dear Ursula, dear António, to all the leaders for this, for such support. We are ready to keep doing our part – making reforms at home, of course. Our goal is to get a positive assessment under the IBAR as soon as possible – and to do the job right. We have already set up a Special Task Force together with our European friends – it was yesterday. A team that can work on joint decisions and concrete steps to move things forward.
And finally, something about the longer term.
Yesterday, you had a detailed discussion about the EU budget starting from 2028. I have already spoken about the security guarantees Europe needs. Guarantees that actually work and can respond to every threat. So today, it is impossible to imagine real security guarantees for Europe without Ukrainian army, Ukrainian technologies and experience.
We are already doing a lot together through joint weapons production, co-production. And this helps you see just how important Ukrainians are.
We are ready to share our experience. And our data from this war – which is extremely important for future decisions on technology and, of course, on strategy.
We have our Drone Deals format, and we are ready to share it with all EU countries.
Yes, we believe this war will be over as soon as possible. But Putin plans to stick around much longer. He is building a Russia that looks like North Korea – where children are raised from an early age for war and to die for their leader. So Russia will not stop being dangerous. And it is our – Ukrainian – strength, our army, our technologies that help guarantee also European security, your security.
These security guarantees are not yet reflected – we think – in your budget from 2028 onward.
Let’s get serious about this. Let’s work out exactly how Ukraine’s defense capabilities should be included in that budget.
Ukraine will be in the EU. More and more people understand that we, our country, are needed in NATO as well. But we have what we have. Simply because Ukrainians can deliver. And we need to take this reality into account at every level.
Thank you very much for your support, dear friends. And Ukraine wants to keep making the European Union stronger.
Thank you.
Слава Україні!
