Category: Attack on Ukraine

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 12 May 2022.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

On behalf of all Ukrainians, I would like to thank you for this award. It is a fair and correct gesture to honor with this award all the people of Ukraine, because courage is our national trait of character. Today the whole world witnesses this and admires the heroism of Ukrainians.

At the same time, I want it not to become something ordinary for everyone. And for this we must say and remember that behind the courage and wisdom of our people, there are thousands of real stories, names and heroic feats.

The world should know about them and to have a clear idea and understanding about the people of Ukraine. First of all, we are the nation of the best defenders. These are our ground forces, air and naval forces, airborne assault troops, special operations forces, the National Guard, intelligence, border guards, and territorial defense fighters.

This is Vitalii Skakun, who blew up a bridge sacrificing himself to stop a column of Russian tanks.

This is 21-year-old lieutenant Vitalii Sapilo, who neutralized 30 units of equipment of the enemy and died from an air strike.

Serhiy Pantelyuk, who was injured while repelling the attack and died at the hospital while his first daughter was being born.

These are the border guards of Zmiinyi Island, who were not afraid of the flagship of the Russian fleet – cruiser Moskva – and sent a Russian ship in a direction that became world-famous.

These are the indomitable defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, who have been holding the line there for several months.

These are all our fighters who died defending Ukraine, hence defending Europe. I would like to ask you to honor their memory with a moment of silence.

Thank you.

The Ukrainian people are people who do not spare themselves for the sake of others. This is combat medic Diana Kukurudziak, who pulled 16 wounded soldiers off the battlefield in one day.

Paramedic Serhiy Chornobryvets in Mariupol, who has been on duty for 22 days since the beginning of the war.

The Ukrainian people are a nation of courageous children.

This is 11-year-old Maksym, who said nothing to his mother, ran away from home and came to ask for permission to be a part of territorial defense.

This is 7-year-old Varya from Kropyvnytskyi who gave her money saved for a smartphone to buy bulletproof vests, and then sold flowers and drawings.

This is a 15-year-old girl from the Luhansk region who was driving a car with shot legs and took out four wounded.

A 15-year-old boy who carried his wounded mother in his arms for 3 kilometers to the evacuation point.

Our people are also elderly people who have experienced too many ordeals.

This is Borys Romanchenko, who passed through the hell of Buchenwald and died at the age of 96, at home, during the shelling of Kharkiv by the Russian Federation.

This is Vanda Obiedkova, who as a child, hiding in the basement, survived the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Mariupol, saw the second occupation of the city in 2014, and the third – this year. At the age of 91, she had to hide in the basement again, where she died on the 40th day of the war.

This is 87-year-old Halyna Kotubey from Mykolaiv region, who remained the only and last resident of her village, but refused to leave.

The Ukrainian people are a nation where hundreds of thousands fight and millions help.

This is a business that has shifted to the needs of the country. Clothing designers sew military uniforms, restaurateurs feed free lunches, bakeries bake bread for IDPs and lonely people.

This is a university professor who continues to lecture to his students in the trenches. A violinist playing for people during an air alarm in a bomb shelter.

These are civilians of Ukrainian cities and villages, who became a living wall on the way of the occupiers – stopping military machines and turning tanks in the opposite direction.

These are inhabitants of Demydivka, who flooded their own village not to let the occupier into Kyiv.

Those who despite threats, shots and stun grenades go to peaceful rallies, reminding the occupants that this is Ukraine: Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar, Mariupol and all other cities and villages of Ukraine occupied not for a long time.

These are millions of Ukrainians who are now defending their Homeland and the whole world.

Do not be afraid and come to Ukraine. Hear thousands of similar stories about us, Ukrainians. Look into their brave eyes, shake their strong hands, and you will see that they are doing all this not for glory, that they need not only awards, but also concrete help and support.

Weapons, equipment, financial support, sanctions on Russia, and the most important: the feeling that in this difficult struggle they are not alone, that they are supported by you, by the whole world – free states and free nations of our planet.

Thank you!

Thank you for your attention!

Thank you for your support!

Thank you for the award and welcome to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 8 May 2022.

I would like to thank you for the invitation. Mr. Chancellor, thank you.

I am thankful to all the respected leaders for this opportunity and for the fact that it is happening today, on this day exactly. This is a powerful support for our state.

Dear friends!

We are meeting on this day in such a format to determine what needs to be done to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Today, May 8, is a key day of remembrance for all the victims of World War II, for the fragility of peace and the inadmissibility of any anti-humanist regimes. But what is remembrance for others today, for our people is, unfortunately, just news, every day.

Just yesterday in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk region, a Russian bomb killed 60 people. Civilians. They were hiding from shelling in the building of a regular school, which was attacked by a Russian air strike.

To do so is to imitate precisely the evil that the Nazis brought to Europe. The missile strikes at Odesa and our other cities are an imitation of how the Nazis tried to bomb and destroy European cities by bombardment.

The deportation of more than 500,000 Ukrainians to Russia and the so-called “filtration camps” set up by Russian troops in the occupied territories of Ukraine are imitations of the deportations and concentration camps that the Nazis organized in Europe.

Every day our people see and die from what must have been left in the distant past. What definitely shouldn’t have returned to Europe 77 years after.

But, unfortunately, I state: it’s back. That is why the solidarity of the whole free world has returned. That is why such historical concepts as “Lend-Lease” and “Marshall Plan” have returned. I am grateful to the United States and our European colleagues for these initiatives. That is why we are reunited in an anti-war coalition to save democracy and freedom in Europe, to guarantee peace and security. I am grateful to you for this solidarity and for this unification.

But what do we need now to gain victory in defending freedom? Freedom of Ukraine and the whole world?

First of all, weapons.

I am grateful to you for the defensive assistance we have already received. Because, as in World War II, the fate of freedom is decided on the battlefield. So Ukraine must get all the weapons and all the defense equipment that will help defeat tyranny. In particular, the M142 HIMARS, M270 MLRS and other weapons that Ukraine has requested from your powerful states.

If we had them, we would have been able to save many people. In all those cities, in all those communities that fell victim to the Russian occupiers, like Bilohorivka, which I mentioned at the beginning, or Mariupol.

The second is sanctions.

Ukraine will always be grateful to you for unprecedented sanctions in the interests of peace. But the war still continues. Hence, a special international group of experts chaired by Michael McFaul and Andriy Yermak has developed an Action Plan to strengthen sanctions on Russia for this war. It is necessary – I beg you – to implement these sanctions and at least give your feedback.

No export-import operations with Russia! As long as Russia is spending the money it has earned on destroying freedom in Ukraine and throughout Europe. The democratic world must be principled in defending itself.

We need to look for ways to influence those politicians and those companies that help Russia circumvent sanctions. For example, we transport oil to Hungary through our pipeline. And the politicians of this country not only block the supply of fuel to our territory, but also try to slow down every sanction step against Russia, including the oil embargo. The free world must not allow itself to be manipulated.

Also, all Russian officials, law enforcement officials and, importantly, judges who work for tyranny must be on the sanctions list. They are not there yet.

Every Russian war criminal must be brought to justice and convicted through international cooperation.

Visa restrictions are also needed for Russian citizens so that they do not use the free world for entertainment and shopping. Everyone must fight against tyranny, not adapt to it.

The third important point is financial support for Ukraine now and post-war reconstruction.

Just as the Marshall Plan played a historic role in rebuilding Europe and creating new conditions for development and growth after World War II, a similar Plan is needed and it is needed now. For the world to see that freedom wins not only on the battlefield, but also in life.

As long as the war continues, we need $ 5 billion to $ 7 billion a month in support. When the war is over, we will have to rebuild everything destroyed by Russia for a sum exceeding $ 600 billion.

This is a lot for our state. This is not possible for Ukraine. But this is possible for you. And it’s not just expenditures for you.

Financial assistance to Ukraine and assistance with post-war reconstruction is the prevention of much greater losses of the free world in the future.

Russia wants to move on to Europe, and all the potential aggressors in the world, who also want to ruin the lives of their neighbors, are looking to see if Russia succeeds now and if they are able to repeat it.

We must organize the work on the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war so that the best experience of democratic countries can be applied with maximum efficiency.

In particular, we invite the friends of Ukraine to join the reconstruction, taking patronage over the regions, cities or industries in our country that have suffered from the war, that are destroyed. For example, the United Kingdom has already been invited to take patronage over the restoration of the de-occupied Kyiv region.

And today, given Germany’s presidency in the G7, I propose to apply the format of cooperation that has shown its effectiveness in the unification of the German state.

When it is clearly set who is involved in the restoration and reintegration of the normal life of each region, each city, each community it guarantees efficiency.

Such cooperation will strengthen economic and technological ties in Europe and will benefit not only our country, but also your countries, your regions and your companies.

I am also grateful to the European Union and the United Kingdom for their decision to abolish tariffs and quotas on our trade. This is a powerful step in support of our state and freedom in general. And this is the decision that would be fair to expect from our other partners.

I appeal to all participants of the G7. It is time to remove bilateral barriers in trade.

Everything I have said now is, in fact, elements of one question.

The question is how long this war will last and how much destruction, how many victims Ukraine will suffer.

We must do everything we can to end the war as soon as possible with the victory of freedom. For the longer the war, the greater the benefits of tyranny and the greater the loss of freedom. And not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe.

The lives of more than ten million people in Ukraine who have become IDPs have already been destroyed. But the world is also on the verge of a food crisis because of Russia’s actions. The Chancellor also spoke about this now. So how many more millions of lives will be lost in dozens of countries in Africa and Asia as a result of food shortages and political chaos that will follow rising food prices?

We need an effective tool for the world’s food security. And we propose to create it.

If we have an Organization of grain exporting countries that respect international law, value democracy and strive to protect human rights, including the right to life and guaranteed well-being, we will be able to provide food stability and a historic victory over famine.

Ukraine is ready to present all the details of this proposal at the appropriate working level.

Friends!

I commend the efforts of each of you. I am grateful to each of you for the weapons, sanctions and support. But I’m sure you realize that we need more weapons, more sanctions, more support to guarantee the protection of freedom. And to fix security for decades by concluding a relevant effective agreement with clear guarantees for Ukraine.

I offer your states – the world’s largest democracies – to become guarantors of security for Ukraine. Because this is what guarantees security for the whole center and east of Europe. Therefore, guarantees the confidence of your people that freedom always wins.

Thanks again to every country, to every leader present.

Thank you for your attention!

Glory to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 10 May 2022.

Dear Mr. Speaker of the National Council!

Dear Mr. Prime Minister!

Dear parliamentarians!

Dear journalists!

Dear Slovak people!

Pozdravujem Vás s Kyjiva!

It is an honor for me to address you today. And I want to start with words of gratitude for all the help that Slovakia has given to Ukraine. We greatly appreciate your defense support. And your determination in this support, which proves that you realize that freedom without force is just a fantasy and nothing more.

It would be good if some other countries in Europe and the world learn this from you.

We appreciate your solidarity with Ukraine at the level of the European Union. This was the case before February 24, when Russia launched a full-scale war and so it is now.

Last year, we, with your President, Ms. Zuzana Čaputová, signed a Declaration of Recognition of the European Perspective of Ukraine. The significance of that step has now only grown stronger.

Russia’s war against our state is not only an attempt to seize our land, subdue our people and erase Ukrainian identity.

Russia went to war in fact against all of united Europe, starting with Ukraine. This war is actually being waged by Russia against each of the states that want to live freely and choose their own future. That want to choose which unions to be in, who to be friends with and how to trade.

This war is against the very project of a common alliance based on common values on our continent.

What are these values? Respect for life, human rights, inviolability of borders and freedom.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Mr. Eduard Heger, was one of our first foreign friends to visit the suburbs of Kyiv and see with his own eyes what the Russian occupiers have done there.

Last week, Bucha and Borodyanka were also visited by your colleagues from the Slovak Parliament. They also saw with their own eyes what evil Russia is carrying.

Thousands of crimes by Russian occupiers against civilians have been recorded in the Kyiv region alone.

Murders, torture, abductions, looting and robberies have been reported. It is recorded that the occupiers tried to destroy everything that is connected not only with the Ukrainian national idea, but also simply with culture.

What is the point of shelling and destroying schools in the area where the occupiers entered? They even destroyed schools! What does this mean? That we are at the epicenter of the confrontation of two ideas: the European democratic idea that the freedom and life of everyone matters and the cruel tyrannical idea that only a person who can subdue other people matters.

That’s what we need to stop together. Everyone in Europe. Because if we don’t stop it, Russian troops will repeat the crimes they committed in Bucha and Borodyanka on the land of every state they can reach, in particular on the territory of your state.

So the first and foremost tool to win this confrontation is weapons. And I can say on behalf of all our people that Ukrainians will always remember how Slovakia gave our country at a crucial time what really helped us. And there is potential to continue this cooperation, in particular, in the issue of aviation – aircraft, helicopters.

You know, our flag, which is now very often seen by all Europeans in their cities – I am grateful to them – it reflects our fertile land – fields of yellow wheat. And also our beautiful blue sky. We have people to defend our land. But in the skies we need more support, including yours.

The second tool is sanctions against Russia. Together with the use of effective weapons by our Armed Forces, sanctions create a truly reliable protection for the European idea.

Because if the source of aggression weakens, life becomes more secure for everyone in Europe.

The European Union is now agreeing on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. And this is the required package, including the energy restrictions that are provided for in it. I understand that this is a challenge for you and some other countries. For Slovakia, the issue of Russian oil and the possibility of its replacement is not a matter of immediate action. We understand everything.

But I want to give you, as our friends, one Ukrainian example. To make you better understand us.

For a long time, Russian politicians have been fighting for the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine.

They offered various supposedly profitable options – completely non-market, cheap and convenient, especially for Moscow. They offered to get a political decision from us about a larger volume of supplies and an easier scheme of payment for Russian gas.

Not so long ago, Ukraine was one of the biggest sales destinations for Gazprom. What did it lead to?

Ukraine depended not only on Russian gas, but also on Russian political decisions. And any attempt to move at least to market conditions in supply ended in gas wars, and ultimately in a bonded gas agreement, which posed a direct threat to our sovereignty.

Ukrainian politicians have also been playing for a long time with the issue of placing the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine – in our Crimea.

In particular, they talked about the conditions of the so-called lease for the fleet, linking the gas issue to this. It seems that there may be some benefit to the state from the feigned discount on Russian gas when the Russian fleet remains on Ukrainian territory.

While this fleet was just a cover to capture a territory. An umbrella for issuing passports to our people by Russia – our people in Crimea. For propaganda and creeping annexation, which could only be completed by the invasion, and it happened in 2014.

That’s what happened in our history. And this is what I advise all our friends, who may become at least one percent more politically dependent on Russia, to avoid.

We were the first to see Russia breaking agreements when it simply stopped liking them. We saw Russia turn commercial ties into a chain to keep another state close to it.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet was used to capture Crimea. And now it is blocking the sea for us and firing missiles at our peaceful cities.

Well, Russia is trying to use gas now to have the entire European continent obedient.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Dear Slovak people!

Ukraine has gone through the mistakes that our friends can learn. Russian energy is not just a commodity. It should be abandoned, especially oil, because it’s really a question of freedom. Yes, protecting freedom has a price.

And the third aspect I would like to talk about today. This is the future of the European Union. Russia’s attempts to blackmail, split and weaken Europeans clearly show that all of us on the continent must respond with even greater unity. Even greater integration. Even with greater joint protection of our values. This is an important element of the very force that makes freedom not just a fantasy.

Even more unity in Europe is possible only in one case – if Ukraine right now, in the conditions of war, gets a real opportunity to move faster to the European Union.

The issue of granting EU membership candidate status to Ukraine in June this year is a matter of protecting the entire European project.

As well as the issue of economic support for Ukraine. It is impossible to fight without the economy. And Russia is doing everything to destroy our economy. As an example, most of the Russian missiles that hit Ukrainian land hit the economic infrastructure.

Therefore, the priority is to establish alternative routes for our exports, in particular, through the territory of Slovakia. And greater financial support for Ukraine from the European Union.

And I ask you to be our voice in the European Union when it comes to defending the relevant positions from the destructive doubts of those who value freedom less than you.

After more than two months of the full-scale war, Ukrainians, together with all our friends on the European continent who have shown solidarity in defending freedom, have proved that Moscow will never be able to repeat what it did in 1968 and all other attempts to spread tyranny.

By the way, this is how I interpret the decision to award me your State Award of Alexander Dubček. I am grateful for it.

But to really fully respond to the mockery of freedom then, in 1968, and to the attempts to mock freedom now, we still have to fight.

We must strengthen our unity and put pressure on Russia until we see that victory has been achieved.

I know that a donors’ conference will be held in Bratislava in June to activate assistance for Ukraine.

I am grateful to everyone who participates in its organization, including the GLOBSEC think tank. And I believe that we will be able to discuss specific projects to restore normal life in different regions of Ukraine at this Bratislava site.

Because the more actively we cooperate, the more we put pressure on Russia. And the more we strengthen European unity, the clearer the contours of our victory are.

Our victory.

Thank you, Slovakia!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 15 May 2022.

Wise people of our bravest country!

All our defenders!

Last year, on May 14, the Day of Remembrance of Ukrainians who saved Jews during World War II was celebrated in our country for the first time. 2659 Ukrainian men and women received the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Our country is the fourth in the world in the number of the Righteous. People who risked their lives, the lives of their loved ones, but still saved those who were threatened with imminent death at the hands of the Nazis. Rescued children, adults, whole families.

Each of these rescue stories is impressive. It strikes with courage, because there was total evil around, and people still kept good in their hearts. It strikes with belief that humanity will still win despite the then occupation and the power of the Nazis.

The Righteous were in all regions of our state – from Zakarpattia to Crimea, from Odesa to Kharkiv. And we do not know all the stories of salvation. There were many who simply did not have time to tell thanks to whom their life was saved. They also rescued very young children who simply could not understand what was really happening to them.

We must always remember that our people have such Righteous among them and that even in the darkest circumstances there are people who carry light. This is exactly the same striving for good that we see today in Ukrainian men and women who help save people from the occupiers, from the same Nazis.

I am grateful to all journalists and just all caring people who document modern stories of salvation and record for all generations of our people what Ukraine has to go through and how people show their best qualities saving others – acquaintances and strangers, relatives, children, adults.

I held talks today with a delegation of US senators led by Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitchell McConnell in Kyiv. I believe that this visit once again demonstrates the strength of bipartisan support for our state, the strength of ties between the Ukrainian and American nations.

We discussed various areas of support for our state, including defensive and financial. As well as tightening sanctions on Russia. I expressed gratitude for the historic decision to renew the Lend Lease program. I called for the official recognition of Russia as a terrorist state.

One of the issues I deal with on a daily basis is food security. More and more countries around the world are realizing that Russia, by blocking the Black Sea for us and continuing this war, puts dozens of other countries at risk of a price crisis in the food market and even famine. This is another incentive for our anti-war coalition to act more decisively together.

Now support for Ukraine – and especially with weapons – means working to prevent global famine. The sooner we liberate our land and guarantee Ukraine’s security, the sooner the normal state of the food market can be restored.

The situation in Donbas remains very difficult. Russian troops are still trying to show at least some victory. On the 80th day of the full-scale invasion, it looks especially insane, but they do not stop all these efforts.

I am grateful to everyone who holds the line and brings closer to Donbas, Pryazovia and Kherson the same thing that is happening now in the Kharkiv region. Step by step we are forcing the occupiers to leave our land. We will make them leave the Ukrainian sea as well.

By the way, now in many cities and communities of Ukraine there are discussions about renaming streets and squares. My advice is to turn to the stories of the Ukrainian Righteous and perpetuate their memory. Because it is about the courage and humanity of Ukrainians who have already proved that the evil that comes to our land will inevitably lose.

Eternal glory to all our defenders!

Eternal memory to all who gave lives for Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 14 May 2022.

Unbreakable people of our most beautiful country!

Our defenders!

Today we can report on the 200th downed Russian military aircraft. Russia has not lost so many aircraft in any war in decades. And Russia has lost almost 27,000 soldiers, many of them young conscripts. Russia has lost more than three thousand tanks, armored combat vehicles, a large number of conventional military vehicles, helicopters, drones and all its prospects as a state.

And why all this? For a monument to Lenin to stand in the temporarily occupied Henichesk for a little longer? There is no other result for Russia and there will not be any.

In fact, no one today can predict how long this war will last. But we are doing everything we can to liberate our land quickly. This is our priority – to work every day to make the war shorter.

However, this depends, unfortunately, not only on our people, who are already doing the maximum. It also depends on our partners. On European countries, on the countries of the whole free world.

I am grateful to all those who are working to strengthen sanctions on Russia and to increase defense and financial support for us, for Ukraine. This is the only recipe for defending freedom in the face of Russia’s invasion. And for Western countries, it’s not just expenditures. It is not about accounting. It is about the future.

The world has already recognized that Russia’s blockade of our ports and this war are provoking a large-scale food crisis. Russian officials are also openly threatening the world that there will be famine in dozens of countries. And what could be the consequences of such a famine? What political instability and migration flows will this lead to? How much will you have to spend then to overcome the consequences?

These are the questions that need to be answered by those who are delaying sanctions on Russia or trying to postpone aid to Ukraine.

Every day of war is an increase in global threats, it is a new opportunity for Russia to provoke instability in other parts of the world, not only here in Europe. And these are new lost lives in Ukraine: Ukrainian men and women who give their lives so that everyone can live freely. I emphasize this: everyone, especially in those countries where they still find time to argue instead of investing in aid as much as possible.

Therefore, much more pressure on Russia is needed. And I talk about it openly and daily to everyone on whom it depends.

We continue to restore the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. As of today, 1015 settlements have been de-occupied, which is plus six in the past 24 hours. We return electricity, water supply, communications, transport, social services there. It is important.

Of course, we remember every city and every community that is still under occupation. Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar, Mariupol and all cities and towns of Donbas… The gradual liberation of the Kharkiv region proves that we will not leave anyone to the enemy.

We do not stop trying to save all our people from Mariupol and Azovstal. Currently, very difficult negotiations are underway on the next stage of the evacuation mission – the rescue of the seriously wounded, medics. It is a large number of people. Of course, we are doing everything to evacuate everyone else, each of our defenders. Everyone in the world who can be the most influential mediator has already been involved in the relevant negotiations.

Already 37 foreign missions have resumed their work in Kyiv. And I am grateful to all of them, because this is 37 proofs that Ukraine stands strong and has prospects in contrast to the Russian Federation. I am sure that other foreign missions will return to the capital soon.

It is worth returning to work for all Ukrainian businesses that have not yet resumed operations, although they may do so in a safe area. Providing jobs and adjusting economic activity to the existing conditions is also a big contribution to defense, to our future.

Traditionally, I signed a decree on awarding our heroes. 212 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were awarded state awards.

Eternal glory to everyone who defends our state!

Eternal memory to all who gave lives for Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!