Category: Speeches

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 16 August 2022.

Ukrainians!

Every day and every night we see new reports of explosions in the territory temporarily occupied by the occupiers. I am now asking all our people in Crimea, in other regions in the south of the country, in the occupied areas of Donbas, in the Kharkiv region to be very careful. Please do not approach the military objects of the Russian army and all those places where they store ammunition and equipment, where they keep their headquarters.

The reasons for the explosions in the occupied territory can be different, very different, in particular, I quote the definition of the occupiers themselves, “bungling”.

But they all have the same meaning: the destruction of the occupiers’ logistics, their ammunition, military and other equipment, command posts saves the lives of our people. The fewer opportunities the occupiers have to do evil and kill Ukrainians, the sooner we will be able to end this war by liberating our land. And the queue these days to leave Crimea for Russia across the bridge proves that the absolute majority of citizens of the terrorist state already understand or at least feel that Crimea is not a place for them.

And I want to thank all Ukrainians who help our Armed Forces, our intelligence, our special services weaken the army of the occupiers. This is a significant advantage of Ukraine and the root cause of our future victory – the struggle of our defenders is based on the unconditional support of the Ukrainian people. This is a people’s war of liberation, this is an all-Ukrainian struggle for freedom and independence for our country.

Ukraine is protected by millions in one way or another. Millions of people who fight at the front, who fight for their cities and villages, including in the occupation, who stopped the occupiers’ military equipment, who informed and inform our intelligence and special services, who oppose the occupiers in their rear, who ensure the necessary supplies for Ukraine and the work of all our state institutions and economy, who volunteer, who fight for our interests abroad, who fight in the information war.

And we have to do – and will do – everything to preserve this nationwide foundation of defense.

For the support of Ukraine in the world not to decrease and for our state to move towards victory, our own activity should not decrease either – the activity of absolutely everyone who in one way or another stood up for the defense of our state. Do everything, as you have been doing, for Ukraine. And even more, because the leadership of Russia expects that Ukrainians, Europeans and the whole world will get tired of this war. We must do everything so that it is not us or our friends and partners who get tired, but our enemy. For us to expel the occupiers from Ukraine, every day must make it more and more difficult for Russia to wage a war – this is our number one military-political task.

I spoke today with President of France Emmanuel Macron. I informed him about the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and regular Russian provocations. I thanked him for the great support. In particular, Mr. President and I have discussed new security and macro-financial assistance to our state.

I also held talks with the Prime Minister of Denmark. Also about increasing financial support for Ukraine, about new sanctions against Russia. I thanked Mrs. Frederiksen for the defense assistance and for the fruitful conference in Copenhagen which recently agreed on concrete decisions for our defense.

For the first time in the history of our bilateral relations, I held talks with the President of Zambia. Cooperation in international organizations, food security and current global threats were discussed.

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Juan Manuel Santos, ex-President of Colombia, visited Ukraine today. The main topic of conversation with them is security guarantees for Ukraine.

We are doing everything to form a military, political and legal security architecture for Ukraine, which will be real, effective and work in the long term, guaranteeing peace to our people.

The Russian army continued its absolutely senseless and brutal shelling of the cities of the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions – Orikhiv, Nikopol… Unfortunately, there are wounded, unfortunately, there are casualties. Shelling of Kharkiv and the border areas continues. But all this will not give anything to the occupiers and will not break our resistance.

Our heroes repel constant and very powerful attacks in Donbas. The occupiers use everything there: aviation, missiles, phosphorus bombs, artillery… Very fierce battles are going on.

We have to go through it, endure everything and gain life. Ukraine must win, and it will.

Today I signed the decree on awarding our defenders. 189 warriors were awarded state awards. 158 are National Guard servicemen, 21 of them were awarded posthumously. 26 border guards, two of them posthumously. Three police officers, two of them posthumously. Two employees of the State Customs Service, one of them posthumously.

Eternal memory to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine!

Eternal glory to all our heroes!

Glory to Ukraine!

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

Ukrainians!

And all Europeans whose lives are already endangered by Russian terror.

Russia does not stop its blackmail in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Provocative shelling of the NPP territory continues. Under the cover of the plant, the occupiers are shelling nearby cities and communities. The Russian troops hide ammunition and equipment right in the facilities of the plant. De facto the plant is mined.

All this clearly shows that Russia is rejecting the security demands of the European Union countries and 15 other countries – 42 in total – that called on Russia to withdraw its forces from the plant. In particular, these are Turkey, Georgia, Great Britain, Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada, the United States of America.

If a terrorist state allows itself to completely ignore the demands of the international community, especially in such a sensitive topic, this clearly indicates the need for immediate action.

Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed of the wind. If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.

This issue has already been brought to the highest international level – the UN and the IAEA. Of course, Russian nuclear blackmail is also discussed between states. There is a corresponding statement from the ministers of foreign affairs of the G7. They clearly understand that Russia is responsible for this nuclear crisis.

But we need to move from discussions and calls to new tough sanctions against Russia, against Rosatom and the entire nuclear industry of the terrorist state. All Russian troops must be immediately withdrawn from the plant and neighboring areas without any conditions.

The world has been fighting for many decades for proper control over all activities with nuclear materials and radiation safety. And if now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear plant, it means that the world loses. Loses to terrorists. Gives in to nuclear blackmail. And this may be a precedent that other terrorists will see. There is still a chance to prevent this defeat.

I held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief today. The main item on the agenda is a thorough analysis of the military-strategic situation. Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Budanov and Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Lytvynenko delivered reports. A separate report was delivered by Commander of the Special Operations Forces Khorenko. Of course, there were Zaluzhny, Shaptala, Monastyrskyi, Danilov, Yermak, Reznikov.

We also considered – from what can be said publicly – the issue of providing our military with weapons and ammunition and the status of implementation of the previous decisions of the Staff – all of them must be implemented 100%, the responsibility for this is personal.

A rather productive meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine took place today. Among other things, the deputies voted for two members of the High Council of Justice.

I continue to establish relations at the highest level with African countries. Today I spoke with the President of Niger – until today there were no contacts at this level between our states. I thanked him for the support within the UN. Of course, the key threats to global security were discussed.

I held a meeting on the preparation of the Crimea Platform. I expect the expansion of geography, level and number of participants. Today, the Advisory Council on the Deoccupation of Crimea was created to coordinate all measures and projects in this direction and ensure the activities of the Crimea Platform.

I met with Andriy Shevchenko and actor Liev Schreiber, ambassadors of our state charity platform UNITED24. We discussed how we can maintain the maximum attention of the world to the needs of our defense. Each week, this task becomes increasingly important.

Russia has created so many crises, including the crisis of the cost of living in many countries, as well as food and energy crises, that spread insecurity and irritation with life throughout the world. We must keep global attention focused on the root cause of these crises, namely: Russian aggression. And we have to remind that it was Ukraine that suffered the most from Russian terror.

I am grateful to all who perform this important function, in particular the UNITED24 ambassadors. Their activity means billions of hryvnias for Ukraine and a constant increase in attention to the needs of our state and people.

The situation on the frontline has not undergone significant changes over the past day. The heroic resistance of our military continues in Donbas, the Kharkiv region. We are putting pressure on the enemy in the south of our country.

I would like to especially thank all our gunners, our intelligence officers, the Security Service of Ukraine and all others who ensure the successive destruction of the occupiers’ command posts and their ammunition depots. All Russian terrorists should know that every meter of Ukrainian land is an absolute danger for them. No matter how they try to hide. No matter where it is. They will be found and destroyed.

Eternal glory to all who fight for Ukraine!

Eternal gratitude to everyone who helps our state!

Glory to Ukraine!