Category: Speeches

The address made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 17 August 2022.

Dear Mr. Rector!

Dear students and university teachers who joined our conversation today!

Dear journalists and everyone present!

I am grateful for the opportunity to address you and tell you what is happening in Ukraine and why the Russian war against our country is still going on. Why there is no peace.

A full-scale war, a full-scale Russian invasion of the territory of Ukraine has been going on for 175 days. For 175 days, millions of Ukrainians have defended the independence of our state.

But not only independence. This is a struggle not only for the state and not only for the opportunity of our people to independently decide their future.

Indeed, the primary motive of Russian aggression against Ukrainians is purely colonialist – the Russian leadership wants its domination over Ukrainian land and over our resources. And for a long time it was heard in Moscow that they would not restore the Russian empire without seizing the territory of Ukraine.

However, it became a much deeper struggle than any imperial or geopolitical intentions. Russia is literally waging a war against the lives of our people, against the very right to life of Ukrainians.

And this war started not 175 days ago. On February 24 of this year, Russia switched to massive aggression – to attacks from the north, from the east, and from the south at once; all our ports on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov were blocked; massive missile strikes were launched throughout the territory of Ukraine.

But it was a continuation of the war. The war that began in 2014. It began when Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula, ignited the confrontation in Donbas, which claimed thousands of lives. They were thousands.

Therefore, when we talk about Russia’s war against Ukraine, we are talking about eight years and 175 days. And when we talk about the victims of this war, about Ukrainian losses, we do not start the story from February 2022. We start it in 2014, when Ukrainians began to be killed simply because they were Ukrainians.

For the Ukrainian flag. For a pro-Ukrainian position. For defending the Ukrainian territory. Even simply for the suspicion that a person supports the Ukrainian state.

Today I want to tell you about one such person. About a guy who would have turned 25 this fall, and he would probably be a lot like you right now.

His name was Stepan Chubenko. He was from the city of Kramatorsk in Donbas. Bright young man. He was remembered as kind and very active – if he had entered a university similar to yours, he would probably have become one of the student leaders. Perhaps he would not have betrayed his dream and chosen the path of a sports career – and he would have been able to become the goalkeeper of one of the teams you know.

I ask you to look at these photos now – that’s the kind of guy he was.

He was killed on July 27, 2014. He was killed by militants – one of those whose hands Russia used to wage a hybrid war in Donbas and whom it is now using in the full-scale war.

They detained Stepan when he was returning home. They saw a yellow and blue ribbon on his backpack – the colors of our flag. And that was reason enough for them to grab the boy. He was beaten for several days, tortured, and shot.

Only in the middle of August of that year, weeks after the murder, Stepan’s mother managed to find out what happened to her son. But she was not given his body.

Only in November 2014 it was possible to bury him.

Stepan’s mother has the last text message from him: “I’ll call you later, I love you.”

His killers hid in the territory of Russia and Crimea occupied by Russia. They received sentences from the Ukrainian court. But the terrorist state Russia protects them from being prosecuted.

Them and thousands of other such murderers.

Those who shot people simply because they were Ukrainians. Simply because they were Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Those who shot men and women in the back of the head for the mere suspicion that the person was defending our state.

Those who shot at residential buildings, at schools and hospitals point blank from tanks.

Those who used artillery to bombard peaceful cities.

It started back then – in 2014, and 175 days ago it reached the maximum scale that the Russian army, Russian mercenaries from the so-called military companies, which are de facto part of the secret services of the terrorist state, are capable of.

Russia really wants to seize the territory of Ukraine. And it needs this territory without Ukrainians.

The destroyed Mariupol and dozens of other cities and villages of Ukraine, the Bucha massacre and other cities in the occupied territory are not exceptions to the general Russian strategy, this is what it is – the Russian strategy towards Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Tens of thousands of our people are kept for months in the so-called “filtration camps” set up by the Russian military.

Thousands of Ukrainian children were deported from the territory entered by the Russian army. They are taken to Russia, and Russian officials are trying to do everything so that these children lose all contact with their families and simply forget who they are.

Monuments and museums that simply remind of Ukraine are being destroyed on the occupied territory. They destroy books. They do everything so that people are forced to give up their national identity, their aspirations, dreams, and obey violence and robbery or die.

Ukraine has already lost the lives of tens of thousands of its people in this war. Very small children – one-month-old babies, who were killed by Russian missiles, shells and bullets. Teenagers. Men and women. Elderly people.

Russia does not care who to kill and who to abuse. Everyone is equally its target. And these are not excesses of war. This is its conscious policy.

Therefore, we have no other choice but to fight for the lives of Ukrainians, so that in Ukraine they are not killed for a yellow-blue ribbon on a teenager’s backpack. And this struggle can last only until victory.

I can’t count how many times before February 24 I suggested to Russia to end the war and negotiate peace. In different formats, through different mediation.

It took many years to negotiate.

But the leadership of Russia chose terror, not an agreement. They chose what they did in Mariupol, in Bucha, not peace. And when Moscow saw that the world would not turn a blind eye to Russian atrocities, they wanted to bring the whole world to its knees.

That is why the food crisis has become so acute. That is why Russia is deliberately destabilizing the energy markets. That is why Russian policy is deepening the crisis of the cost of living in many countries for mercenary motives. And this is why we must jointly resist Russian aggression.

When a state turns energy poverty or hunger into a weapon, it is a blow to everyone in the world. When a state tries to conquer another because it wants to be a colonizer, it is a threat to all who value their independence. And when people are killed simply because they are, because they belong to their people, because they do not give up their homeland, it is a threat to humanity as such.

Can you stay away? Can you stay indifferent? I don’t believe that.

That is why you are here today, because you value the truth.

And I’m not asking too much of you. I ask you to spread only the truth – spread the truth about this war in your country and in your region. It is necessary to oppose Russian propaganda.

Demand full accountability for Russian murderers and executioners. Every war crime must receive its verdict by a competent and honest court.

Support sanctions against Russia – because the aggressor must pay the highest price for aggression.

And most importantly, value peace, value life, value your freedom and always, when you have such an opportunity, help defend peace, life and freedom by protecting those from whom they want to take it.

I am very grateful to each of you, thank you for your attention!

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!