Category: Speeches

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 7 October 2022.

Dear friends! Dear colleagues!

First of all, I want to thank you, Charles, and I also want to thank the Czech Presidency for this opportunity and Prime Minister Fiala personally for the invitation to participate in this event. Ukraine – as it should be – together with all Europeans.

This is a familiar thing for everyone now – and at our level, when we regularly meet and work together in various European formats. Also it is familiar for people in our countries – because for most Europeans, Ukraine is an integral part of the European space.

The space of freedom, democracy, social development and fundamental values that unite us all.

It makes Europe so attractive to many people from other parts of the world.

But let’s look back for a moment – to the very recent past. Just a few generations before us the European space that we have today could have been nothing more than a dream.

And such a bold dream that it was very difficult to believe that it could be realized.

Europe was a continent of discord, warlike ambitions, clannishness, lack of freedom, inequality, and poverty. And Europeans had to flee to other parts of the world just to survive and develop their potential.

So it was. Europe has done a lot to overcome this.

And even Russia will not be able to push our common continent into such a past. Although Russia openly seeks this, it spends a lot of energy, a lot of money, resources on it, fights for this and provokes anti-European crises, the impact of which is felt by everyone in Europe – from Portugal to Finland.

But what gives confidence that the European path is irreversible?

There is only one answer – unity. And it is the unity of not only leaders and states. Not only in the legal space. Not only in our institutions – EU institutions and others, it is not only in their work.

It is very important that the unity of our perception of Europe as a task remains.

Yesterday, Mr. Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, while addressing the European leaders gathered in Prague for the inaugural meeting of the new format of cooperation on our continent, recalled this image that was proposed by Václav Havel.

Europe as a task.

Today, at the meeting of the European Council, I would like to emphasize once again exactly this image. Because this is the source of our strength.

Europe will remain exactly as it is now, as long as Europeans perceive what they have, how they live, what they received from previous generations, not as a givenness, but as a task.

Peace in Europe is not a state, but a task.

Our values, their popularity and strength are not a givenness, but a task.

And democracy is not something that can always be, because it already exists now, it is also the task.

Social development, the pursuit of equality in diversity, which distinguishes Europe from other parts of the world, is also not something that we can simply get from our parents or simply pass on to our children, it is the task.

And security… Security is also not a state, not a givenness, not an inheritance that can be received or transferred, but the task.

It is a constantly renewing task that can never be abandoned and that constantly needs new thoughts, steps and solutions to preserve all that you and I value so much and that is so familiar to us.

And especially now – at a time when Europe is being so brutally attacked at many levels by the most anti-European state of the modern world – Russia.

Russia brought war to our land – to the Ukrainian part of Europe. And only thanks to the fact that the Ukrainian people stopped this invasion of Russia, Russia cannot yet bring the same war to other parts of Europe, in particular, the Baltic countries, Poland, and Moldova.

The whole of Europe is placed in the conditions of a severe price crisis, when through the manipulation of the energy market Russia achieves unprecedented pressure on the standard of living of the absolute majority of Europeans.

And all of us are on the brink of a nuclear disaster due to the capture of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant by Russian troops.

These are terrible conditions. But we are all together, we defend ourselves vigorously, we have not abandoned our task.

We have established and should only increase our cooperation in the security and defense areas.

Increase the supply of weapons and ammunition to defend against the Russian pressure.

Increase the manufacture of weapons and ammunition in Europe to be always ready to defend our common space.

Indeed, I understand, and all of us would rather spend the money we spend on armaments on completely different goals – peaceful goals, social needs. But who and what will be able to protect such goals and such needs?

We have to be especially careful about the protection of our critical infrastructure – and especially after the sabotage that happened at gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Never before has our continent faced such a threat – the threat of destroying underwater pipelines, cables, and tunnels. But now you can expect this from Russia.

At the same time, we must strengthen our cooperation to help each other, provide all Europeans with adequate energy guarantees. Russia must not succeed in its effort to force Europeans into energy poverty or even a complete lack of energy.

The key challenge is in Ukraine.

The first is the physical protection of energy facilities from Russian strikes. We need enough air defense systems to prevent Russia from leaving people without heat and electricity in the winter.

The second is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. We must finally force Russia to immediately comply with the demands of the IAEA and all normal people of the world and demilitarize the plant. And this is not only about Russian military equipment, but also about the removal of all troops from the plants. Right now there are 500 Russian terrorists at the Zaporizhzhia plant. And there is no place for them there!

This is essential for nuclear safety. This is absolutely essential for Ukraine to have the necessary volume of electricity for export. For export, which is fundamentally important for our neighbors in the EU this winter.

The third is reconstruction. Fast restoration of facilities destroyed by Russia during hostilities.

I am grateful to those countries that have already started working under our Fast Recovery Plan. And we expect a substantive discussion on this during the Conference in Germany on October 25.

We have already created and must constantly strengthen the system of sanction pressure on the aggressor.

I thank you very much for the adoption of the eighth package of EU sanctions, which includes, in particular, Russian oil. We must continue moving in this direction – the direction of pressure on the Russian energy sector, on this main source of income of the aggressor state.

And we must maintain political leadership. This is especially important right now – when Russian forces have finally arrived on the battlefield, and our heroes are liberating Ukrainian land every day – village after village, city after city.

To stop the liberation of Ukraine, Russia began to manipulate the topic of negotiations, and allegedly mentioned the dialogue, which it rejected, starting this war against Ukraine and against all of you, against all of Europe.

It is obvious that Russia does not want any real negotiations. Because if it wanted to, it would have responded to dozens of our proposals and efforts. Russia just wants to save time. Wants to regroup forces. And accumulate resources. To strike again. We have to stop it from doing that.

Like everything else in Europe, security is not something you can get by giving up something or signing a treaty. Security is a task. The task of expelling the occupier from the territory occupied by it. The task of holding murderers and executioners to account. The task of restoring the validity of the fundamental standards and conventions approved by the international community for all states without exception.

We must be strong – until our common victory to preserve all that we value so much. We must never stop defending freedom and democracy so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy at least the same amount of rights and freedoms that we have.

And we must invest now in our defense, in our security, in our cooperation as much as possible, so that anyone in the world, who might even have a thought to start an anti-European path, will forever be aware that the strength of European unity is insuperable.

I thank you for your attention! I thank you for your support!

Long live united Europe! United also as a task. A task for us and you. Equal leaders of European countries – countries of the European Union. All de facto, but not all de jure yet. And this is also a task for you and me – a task for the sake of our Europe. The space of freedom, democracy, social development and fundamental values that unite us all.

Thank you! Thank you, Charles!

Glory to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 6 October 2022.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Dear hosts of our meeting and inspirators of the idea of our meeting!

Dear Prime Minister Fiala!

Dear President Michel!

Dear Mr. President Macron!

Dear leaders of Europe!

At this first meeting of ours in this format, I would like to congratulate you on the establishment of our new political initiative.

I would like to congratulate you on the fact that, thanks to this initiative, we have received not just another format of cooperation in Europe, but an extremely powerful opportunity to restore peace in Europe.

This gathering, the European Political Community, has a real possibility of becoming a European Community of Peace.

Peace! That Ukraine needs so much. That absolutely every country presented here today needs.

Currently, representatives of all existing formats of cooperation in Europe based on our common values are participating in this meeting.

Here with us are those who joined the EU and those who are preparing to join.

Here with us are those who are part of NATO, and those who are building cooperation with the Alliance as candidate countries or partners of NATO.

Here with us are representatives of various regional associations of Europeans.

And there are no representatives of Russia with us here – a state that geographically seems to belong to Europe, but from the point of view of its values and behavior is the most anti-European state in the world.

We are now in a strong position to direct all possible powers of Europe to end the war and guarantee long-term peace – for Ukraine, for Europe, for the world.

Ukraine never wanted this war. Ukraine did nothing to provoke it. Ukraine has always been a leader in peaceful settlement.

And all of you are well informed about how much Ukraine has done to try to convince Russia to live without war.

Many of you personally participated in these efforts and helped us.

Helped us in almost a hundred rounds of negotiations of various levels, at which peace was offered to Russia. I thank each and every one of you for this effort.

But we must admit the obvious: we are forced to deal with a state that does not want peace. Which responds to all proposals for real peace with missile strikes, provocation of artificial crises and ridicule.

Russia subordinated its entire policy to only one task, namely, waging war. War against Ukraine, against Europe, against the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Colleagues!

Peace is needed! Russia kills. It kills on the battlefield in Ukraine, in our peaceful cities… And on the streets of your cities.

Russian killers made attempts on people in various European countries. And organized sabotage in Europe – against warehouses with weapons, against factories, and now against gas pipelines.

Russia intimidates and blackmails for the world to stop helping those it kills. It uses everything from the food crisis to radiation blackmail, from destabilizing energy markets to nuclear blackmail. All in order to break the unity of allies and partners, to intimidate nations, to make millions of people afraid and on the basis of this fear – to give in.

Give up values, first of all. Our common values of freedom, democracy and the right of nations to live freely.

Russia is trying to fix every danger and every manifestation of instability that it has already created. This is exactly what it calls negotiations, this is exactly how it perceives any agreements.

Russia wants to redraw the borders – to once again divide the world into zones of influence, destroying our common space of cooperation and development.

Russia corrupts. It corrupts with the billions it earns from trading in energy resources.

This is the Russian formula for war: kill, intimidate, fix threats to free states and their losses, destroy borders and corrupt.

And each of these elements is anti-European. All of them are directed against Europe.

Ukraine is only the first battlefield this state has entered. And it is in Ukraine that it is necessary to defeat it.

We must implement our peace formula. I presented it in my speech at the UN General Assembly. It must be fully implemented.

The items of our peace formula neutralize everything that Russia does to fight.

The first is to punish the aggressor. Increase sanctions against Russia. Stop any cooperation with Russia and its companies. Exclude it from all international organizations or at least suspend its membership, its ability to distort the activities of international institutions – first of all, the UN.

Russia is making the United Nations a gathering of 192 who are simply forced to put up with one state lying and mocking and vetoing when it wants to block the UN’s real ability to restore peace.

Of course, in order to punish the aggressor, we need a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression by Russia against Ukraine and an international compensation mechanism that will force Russia to compensate for the damages they caused.

The second is aid to Ukraine. By helping us, each of your states is helping itself.

Look at the battlefield in Ukraine now – it is such an intense war that the absolute majority of states simply would not be able to wage it. And that is why this war must be won now – in Ukraine.

So that the Russian fleet cannot block other ports in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea or any other sea. So that Russian tanks do not advance on Warsaw or again on Prague. So that Russian artillery does not fire at the Baltic states. So that Russian missiles do not hit the territory of Finland or any other country.

Such a threat exists. We reduce such a threat every day when we destroy the occupiers in Ukraine.

The third point of our peace formula is the restoration of security and territorial integrity.

We do it. We do it together with you. With your help.

The fourth point is security guarantees. We need security guarantees before we join NATO. And on this path. And we will do it. We will also do it together with you. Our proposals for security guarantees are presented to partners.

The fifth is determination.

In 225 days of full-scale war, we have all already shown that Europe can influence the issues of war and peace. But now – all together – we must ensure that the formula for war is completely blocked and the formula for peace is fully implemented.

Today, Russia launched another airstrike on Ukrainian cities.

It used Iranian drones again. By the way, they are used every day, and so far Iran says every day that there are allegedly no such drones here.

And again hit with rockets.

Unfortunately, there are victims again – dead and wounded people, burnt houses.

In Zaporizhzhia, after the first missile strike today, when people came to clear the debris, Russia launched a second missile strike…

Absolute meanness. Absolute evil. There have already been thousands of manifestations of such evil. Unfortunately, there may be thousands more.

But the day will come when Russian evil will lose.

This will be the very day when our peace formula will prevail. When we will fully use all the possibilities of our unity.

Here and now, I urge you to make a basic decision. A decision about purpose for this community of ours. For this format of ours.

We, the leaders of Europe, can become the leaders of peace. Our European political community can become a European community of peace.

So, let’s do it! And let today be the starting point. The point from which Europe and the entire free world will move to guaranteed peace for all of us. It is possible.

Thank you for your attention!

Thank you all for your support!

Glory to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 6 October 2022.

Thank you very much, dear Mr. Lowy! Dear Mr. Fullilove!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Thank you for this opportunity to address you today and answer the most pressing questions of our time. A time that has such a strong connection with the past.

Almost 8 years ago, in November 2014, here in Sydney, at the Lowy Institute, you had a speech by Angela Merkel, then Federal Chancellor of Germany.

She in particular touched upon the topic of the Russian war against Ukraine – the criminal annexation of our Crimea, hostilities in Donbas and destruction of the Malaysian Boeing in the sky over Ukraine. Mrs. Merkel then noted that “the Ukrainian crisis is really more than a regional crisis, it affects all of us.”

Let me remind you once again – these words were said almost 8 years ago, i.e. 8 years before Russia was able to turn a hybrid war against Ukraine – a war, not a crisis after all – into a full-scale invasion, the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II.

Why was this possible? Why, despite the understanding already in 2014 that Russian aggression is not something local, but really a global threat, Russia still had the possibility of such an escalation, which began on February 24 of this year?

This question reveals the connection between our time with even more ancient history.

With a history that still hasn’t really become history. It is still with us – in the present.

On September 30 of this year, the head of Russia announced the purported annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine. Four of our regions, from which the Russian occupation contingent has not yet been ousted.

This new attempt by Russia to grab someone else’s property is an obvious attempt to repeat 2014 – to repeat Crimea. And not just annexation as such.

Russia is trying to put the international community in such conditions now that the reaction to yet another Russian crime against international law does not correspond to its severity in the same way as it did then – with Crimea.

In 2014, we did not see, for example, really tough sanctions against Russia. It was not punished for this crime. At that time, there was a very strong desire among many in the world to turn a blind eye to the annexation, to consider the war simply a “crisis” and to continue relations with Russia.

Although they said then that the threat was global, they acted as if it was something purely local…

And to say that this increased the aggressor’s sense of impunity is an understatement.

But this always happens: when a criminal does not receive an adequate punishment for a crime he has committed, he perceives it as permission for further criminal acts. “They are weak,” is how the aggressor reacts when he feels no response.

Will he feel it now?

Knowingly or not, the Russian leader chose a very symbolic date to start this attempt to annex our territory. September 30. This day takes us back 84 years in the history of Europe and the world.

It was on this day that another aggressor – yet so similar to this one – succeeded in signing the Munich Agreement. Also to annex someone else’s land.

Now we remember that agreement more often under the name of the “Munich conspiracy” and consider it an example of political cynicism and a fatal mistake. A mistake that cost humanity tens of millions of lives.

But after the signing of “Munich”, such evaluations sounded different. They even said that the agreement would give peace to the generation at that time…

In different countries and with different voices, the thesis that it is possible to simply agree that the aggressor has seized something is heard again. That it is possible to draw some kind of conditional line somewhere that will satisfy Russia’s appetite, and supposedly after that the war will die down. And that one should not react toughly to this annexation attempt, which Russia started on September 30.

But this thesis sounds nothing but the year 2014 – the mistakes of the then leaders. It sounds like 1938. It only says that the criminal can go unpunished. And so, with the temptation to continue.

Be sure – the head of Russia is now carefully analyzing the world’s reaction to the sham referenda he organized on Ukrainian soil and to the announcement of the annexation of our territory. What exactly is he interested in?

It’s simple: he is interested in whether he still has the potential for escalation.

If the world’s reaction is weak now, Russia will come up with some new escalation.

You can see that the range of criminal actions of this state is very wide – missile terror, mass murders, criminal deportations, radiation blackmail at, for example, our captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, food crisis, energy crisis, etc.

The recent sabotage with gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was also very eloquent. These are actions that can destabilize life on the entire continent. This is a real energy weapon of mass destruction. Absolutely every country in the world depends on underwater cables and pipelines, which can be destroyed by an aggressor in the same way as gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Therefore, the world must now show strength.

Strength is needed to finally put an end to aggression – to the aggressor’s ability to escalate.

On international platforms, a clear and principled condemnation of Russia for this attempt to annex Ukrainian territory is needed, for it to be utterly different from what happened in 2014.

At the level of states and unions of states, new and tough sanctions against Russia are needed so that the situation is also dramatically different from 2014.

At the level of cooperation with Ukraine, regular and demonstrative support packages are needed, primarily defensive and financial, so that the aggressor sees that his criminal actions only complicate the situation for him.

Now, at a time that has such a strong connection with the past, we have a historic opportunity to set a precedent that will make the history of aggression truly history and that will teach any aggressor that no crime against international law will ever again remain unpunished.

Next week, a resolution on non-recognition and condemnation of Russia’s new attempt to annex our territories will be submitted to the UN General Assembly. We and Australia have long had a principled and effective cooperation at all international platforms, and in particular at the UN. And we must now direct our joint capabilities in such a way as to make the vote at the General Assembly for this resolution as unequivocal as possible. I am asking you, I am asking Australia to use all its influence to persuade as many countries as possible not to remain neutral and to vote for – for international law and against Russian annexation.

Ukraine has a very meaningful defense cooperation with Australia as well.

Even after my first address to the Parliament and people of Australia in March, your Government decided to provide Ukraine with bushmasters. I’m deeply grateful. These vehicles have proven themselves in real combat.

The more weapons and ammunition we receive, in particular, artillery, drones, anti-aircraft defense, anti-tank and anti-ship weapons, the more tangible the responsibility for violation of international law will be for Russia and the less the aggressor will feel that he supposedly has room for escalation.

The third element is sanctions.

I thank Australia for participating in the global effort to impose sanctions on the aggressor for the war. But this pressure makes sense when it is constantly growing and when the aggressor does not have time to adapt to sanctions, does not have time to find ways to circumvent them.

Now is the time to increase this pressure. Just now.

Right after Russia staged this farce with sham referenda and this annexation.

The price of such actions must be tangible, the consequences – devastating. The aggressor should have no illusions that 2014 can still happen again.

And the last one.

The world has seen many wars. It has seen how wars somewhere in one part of the world affect everyone in the world.

It should be considered not only from the point of view of the direct negative impact of the war. But also from the point of view of the impact of its result.

If the aggressor does gain a result for himself, if the aggressive ambition is satisfied, then such a result affects everyone in the world even more and even longer than the war itself.

Affects by cynicism. Affects by the inevitable destruction of international law, the weakening of the truth.

That is why the criminal war must end with the just defeat of the one who started it. The aggressor must lose. This is what gives peace to generations. Not any conspiracies with the aggressor, not appeasement of the aggressor, but his defeat. And therefore, the restoration of peace. And therefore, Ukraine must win.

This is not just something about our state. This is about all of us in the world. This is also about Australia.

About your freedom. About your security. About our common values. About our common peace. Which our victory can historically strengthen.

I thank you for your attention! I thank you for the support, Australia!

Glory to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 6 October 2022.

Dear Secretary-General!

Dear representatives of the free nations of America!

Dear friends!

I am grateful for the opportunity to address you at this particular time when we have entered a defining phase of our war for independence – when our heroes drive the occupying army out of our land.

Russia sent this army to our country to turn us into their colony. As it was, unfortunately, before – in the time of empires.

But millions of Ukrainians stood up to defend our freedom and our country and will definitely not allow Russia to bring back that old unfair time.

We have no doubts about winning this war and our ability to protect the independence of Ukraine. Daily victories at the front and dozens of liberated Ukrainian cities and villages prove it.

There is only one question for us right now – how many of our people Russia will manage to kill before it admits a defeat. How much more will Russia manage to steal from Ukraine – grain; resources; industrial enterprises, which the occupiers simply disassemble and take out to Russia; as well as people. They are stealing people.

More than one million and six hundred thousands of Ukrainians were forcibly deported to Russia. They are dispersed across the territory of this state, scattered throughout remote Russian regions.

Many of them had their documents taken away, and many of them passed through terrible Russia’s filtration camps, where they were abused and intimidated.

These are people. But for Russia, it is also a resource.

We are doing everything to free our land as soon as possible, to save all our people from this invasion as fast as we can. We are doing everything to put an end to the long list of Ukrainian victims that Russia is creating.

This is the reason I am addressing you.

We need your support to bring back peace faster for our people.

I will be honest – I know that in some member countries of your Organization, unfortunately, the Russian view of this war is dominant. And this is a false view.

It is possible in your part of the world simply due to the fact that Russia spends billions of dollars annually on its propaganda media and other projects that create an illusory impression about it.

But there are facts on the side of Ukraine. And I am asking you just to look at these facts.

Look – from your point of view. In terms of what your great American continent has been through. From the point of view of the struggle for independence that your people led. In terms of simple human justice, which means so much to your countries and people. And in terms of what your national heroes fought for.

I am turning to the pages of the history of the American continent and asking:

On whose side would Simon Bolivar be in such a war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine? Who would Jose de San Martin support? Who would Miguel Hidalgo sympathize with?

I think they would not help someone who is just looting a smaller country as a typical colonizer. I think they would not support someone who constantly lies and does not even call a war a war, hiding behind the definition of “special military operation”.

I think they would not sympathize with someone who deliberately puts different countries on the brink of starvation – through an artificial food crisis. Who drives people into poverty – through price and energy crisis, both artificial. And who is so mean that he makes war against civilians, destroying all the foundations of normal social life using rockets and artillery against residential buildings, hospitals, schools, churches.

I thank those of you who have already strongly supported Ukraine and condemned Russian war against our freedom and independence. I thank your Organization for suspending Russia’s observer status.

But we need more for the sake of peace and for the Russian army to leave all captured Ukrainian land.

So I am asking you to support us on several levels.

The first level – international organizations, particularly the UN General Assembly. Please support us in voting to condemn Russia’s aggressive policy.

It is of our common interest – so that no one in the world can start wars of aggression like the Russian war against Ukraine. And so that no one in the world thinks that he has right to illegally annex lands of other nations, as Russia thinks.

The second level is national. We need integrity from your states.

Do not allow your economies to be used to finance criminal war and war crimes. Do not associate yourself with those who will inevitably be condemned by the international community.

The crime of Russia’s aggression against our country, the mass murders of civilians on Ukrainian soil, forced deportations, numerous cases of torture and rape – all this will certainly receive its verdicts.

Please avoid your companies and countries to be connected with those individuals and legal entities in Russia through which it carries out its terror against Ukraine. Support sanctions against Russia. Limit your trade operations with Russia. Protect yourself from the risk of tarnishing your reputation with ties to a terrorist state and its companies, and limit its opportunities to continue this war of aggression against Ukraine.

And the third level of support we need – is the level of ordinary people.

I’m not asking for much. Just spread the truth about this war and the casualties caused by the Russian aggression. Just talk about it. Let your people know what evil Russia has brought to the absolutely peaceful Ukrainian people. A nation that has never started any wars of aggression.

The greater the support for those who fight for freedom and independence – the stronger freedom will be in general in the world and the faster we will go all the way to freeing our land from the Russian invaders.

I thank you for your attention! 

Long live freedom! ¡Viva la Libertad!

Слава Україні!