Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Statement on the Situation in Ukraine (27/02/2022)

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 27 February 2022.

I had a phone conversation with Alexander Lukashenko. We haven’t spoken to him in two years. And today I had a long substantive conversation with him.

I explained to him in detail the impossibility of our clash. I do not want missiles, planes, helicopters to fly to Ukraine from Belarus. I do not want troops to go to Ukraine from Belarus. And he assured me of that.

My task as President is to protect our state. And you have seen during these tough days how we are fulfilling this task.

Alexander Lukashenko called on the meeting of the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on the Pripyat River. I emphasize: without any conditions.

I will say frankly, as always: I do not really believe in the result of this meeting, but let them try. So that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as President, did not try to stop the war when there was even a small chance.

And while our guys are there, the President is here, the Head of the Office is here, the Prime Minister is here, the army is here, the Commander-in-Chief is here. We will all defend our state and our borders.

You and I must act pragmatically to achieve our goal. And our goal is our territorial integrity. You have seen our position one hundred percent. This is the unconditional protection of national statehood.

As regards our motivation. It is obvious that our servicemen are fighting not for money, but for today, for tomorrow. And they provide a very tough response to what happened yesterday.

But we must understand that today the most important job is to be a soldier, to defend the country. And that’s why I really want the state to pay decently for this job.

We will pay our armed servicemen a hundred thousand hryvnias a month. Not to hear “thank you” from them, but to let them know that the country is definitely grateful to them. And it will be so until this war is over.

And the last thing. Yesterday, unfortunately, we lost our “Mriya”. But the old “Mriya”. And we are building a new one now.

Glory to Ukraine!