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The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 8 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Head of State emphasized that Antony Blinken’s visit is an important demonstration of US leadership positions and a sign of solidarity with Ukraine during the full-scale invasion of Russia. The President noted the tangible support of the United States for the sovereignty of our state. He emphasized that the aid that Ukraine receives will accelerate the achievement of the main goal – the restoration of the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy highly appreciated the decision announced by the President of the United States on August 24 to provide Ukraine with $6 billion in grant support: a $3 billion package of security assistance and $3 billion in financial support through the World Bank. The Head of State also thanked for the new package of defense aid to our country in the amount of $675 million approved today at the meeting at the Ramstein.

“We are grateful for this signal, grateful for your great support that we feel every day. Allow me in your presence to thank President Biden’s administration, him personally, and the Congress of the United States of America for this,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President noted that American weapons have a positive effect on the situation at the front. The Armed Forces of Ukraine especially respect the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems. On behalf of the Ukrainian military, the Head of State thanked the United States for these weapons.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Antony Blinken discussed in detail the prospects of increasing defense support for Ukraine from the United States. The importance of the official launch of the Lend-Lease program was noted.

Speaking about the post-war world order, the President emphasized the importance of developing effective security guarantees for Ukraine. According to him, stability in Europe is impossible without such guarantees.

He also noted the high level of trust between the leaders of Ukraine and the US, and the effective functioning of existing bilateral negotiation formats.

“It is very important that the United States of America is with us. For us, this is a guarantee that we will be able to return our lands,” the Head of State emphasized.

The parties discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP in detail. Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the constructive position of the US and Antony Blinken personally regarding the demilitarization of the ZNPP. He noted the importance of using all available mechanisms to ensure the implementation of this goal.

The President highly appreciated the economic and financial assistance that the United States provides to Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that the United States will play a leading role in the implementation of the Fast Recovery Plan. This is necessary to prepare Ukraine for winter, to restore residential buildings, schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure facilities destroyed by the Russian army.

Hope was also expressed for the continuation of effective cooperation in the framework of the IMF and the World Bank.

During the meeting, the importance of increasing international pressure on the aggressor state, which must be punished for crimes committed in Ukraine, was emphasized. It was noted that Russia already feels the economic consequences of its aggression, and its price will only increase. It is necessary to ensure that every citizen of the aggressor state is affected by the actions of his country. For this purpose, it is necessary to limit as much as possible the issuance of visas for Russians to the countries of the democratic world, in particular to the US.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his belief that Russia should be given the “honorary” status of a state – sponsor of terrorism.

“We have all seen the information about the body of British volunteer Paul Urey handed over to us by the aggressor. And terrible footage showing torture. This is yet another proof that we are dealing with a terrorist state,” the President said.

The parties positively noted the recovery of Ukrainian grain exports, which makes it possible to prevent the global food crisis deliberately provoked by Russia.

“The world must prevent the disruption of grain exports from Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The interlocutors exchanged views on further contacts at high and highest levels.

The progress of reforms in our country and the importance of their continuation were discussed separately.

During the meeting, the President presented the Order of Yaroslav the Wise of the II degree to Antony Blinken. The Order was awarded to him for significant personal merits in strengthening interstate cooperation, support of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 8 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the draft state budget for 2023 will provide more than UAH 1 trillion for the security and defense sector, as well as indexation of pensions. He announced this in a video address, commenting on the results of the meeting with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the relevant Deputy Head of the Office of the President.

“It is clear that this will be the budget of a warring country. Government officials will present the parameters of the project, but I will now mention some important points – politically important points. First. More than a trillion hryvnias will be allocated to the security and defense sector next year. That will be priority number one,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

The second important point, according to the President, is ensuring social obligations in full.

“In particular, I want Ukrainian pensioners to hear me: next year, as well as this year, the government is tasked with indexing pensions for all our pensioners,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy named the third point to be taken into account when preparing the draft state budget for 2023 as the maximum reduction of all non-critical state expenditures in order to withstand difficult times and ensure financial and social stability.

“All that does not help defense, does not help the economic development of the country, social and cultural provision of our people. Accordingly, the government should present a program to reduce expenditures on the state enterprises, on the apparatus, on the institutions that do not meet the needs of this special time. I am waiting for proposals from government officials,” the Head of State noted.

In addition, according to the President, the draft state budget for 2023 should provide for decisions on the intensification of economic relations in the country.

“The lending program “5-7-9%” is maintained. There will also be other programs and solutions that should help businesses work, save jobs and attract new employees,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed.

“And fifth. A special recovery fund will be established, which will be filled, in particular, at the expense of confiscated Russian assets,” he added.

The President expressed his belief that the draft budget will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on time, as required by law.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 7 September 2022.

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on Wednesday decided to apply restrictive measures to 606 individuals who belong to the leadership of the Russian Federation. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this in a video address.

“28 members of the Security Council of Russia, 154 members of the Federation Council of Russia, 424 deputies of the State Duma of Russia. They are all responsible for this war, for the terror against our people. And none of them will avoid responsibility – it’s only a matter of time. We have already taken some of the necessary legal, diplomatic and political steps for this responsibility for them. We also take all other steps deliberately,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Also, according to him, today the Security Service conducted an important operation regarding the activities of some persons subject to sanctions on the territory of our country.

“I have repeatedly emphasized: there will be no place for smugglers and criminal networks in Ukraine. The customs officials who helped the smugglers, including the leadership, have been removed from office and will receive a legal response for all their illegal actions,” the President emphasized.

The Head of State also announced that based on the proposal of the Security Service of Ukraine and in accordance with the current legislation, he decided to terminate the Ukrainian citizenship of those persons subject to sanctions, whose foreign citizenship, in particular Russian and Romanian, was exposed.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 7 September 2022.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of military intelligence of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with servicemen of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and presented state awards.

The ceremony took place in the White Hall of Heroes of Ukraine in the Mariyinsky Palace in Kyiv.

Addressing the attendees, the Head of State said that today he signed a decree on the establishment of Military Intelligence Day in Ukraine, and congratulated intelligence officers on a full-fledged professional holiday.

“I can say with complete certainty: military intelligence of Ukraine is one of the most professional and effective in the world. And this is not just an estimate, it is a fact that you prove every day in the battles for our state, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, for our families, in the struggle for our land and future,” he emphasized.

As the President noted, most of the successes of intelligence cannot be talked about publicly, but the indisputable result of its activity is the success of our state on the battlefield, the liberation of our territories from Russian invaders and confidence in the future victory.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his belief that military intelligence operations will get one of the prominent places in the history of Ukraine’s victory in this war. In particular, according to him, important results were achieved near Kyiv, on Zmiinyi Island, in Kharkiv, in Donbas, in Mariupol, during the defense of Azovstal and in other areas, as well as in the rear of the enemy.

“We remember how dangerous the tasks that you perform every day are, and the cost of the victory of our state in this war,” he noted and called for a moment of silence to honor the memory of all intelligence soldiers who heroically died for Ukraine.

According to the President, Ukrainian military intelligence officers are rapidly gaining new experience and have become one of the pillars of Ukrainian statehood. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which successfully coordinates the actions of all special units of the power structures of our country and is an extremely effective center of the entire domestic intelligence community, deserves a lot of credit for this.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured the intelligence officers that the state will always be their reliable assistant.

On behalf of the entire Ukrainian people, the Head of State thanked the intelligence officers and their families for their service.

The President presented orders and medals for personal courage, selfless actions shown in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, exemplary performance of military duty.

The Head of State also presented the Gold Star Orders to the Heroes of Ukraine and to the families of fallen warriors who were awarded this title posthumously.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 6 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the ceremony of opening of trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

“Freedom always has different manifestations but the most important of many is the ability to work for your benefit, for the benefit of your children and the one of your country. In Ukraine, we are fighting for everything that you have. We stand so that every Ukrainian would enjoy all the manifestations of freedom available to a free person in a democratic society,” the Head of State said.

According to him, Ukraine has achieved significant results in this struggle.

“We have united the whole world around our struggle for freedom. We’re liberating Ukraine’s territory from the Russian army. We have already started renovating everything that was destroyed by the Russian terror. We’re rebuilding our economy. We’re giving you and your companies the opportunity to work together with us – for the benefit of us all,” the President noted.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized, Ukraine is the story of a future victory and a chance for business to invest in projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars right now to share the victory with our state.

“Today we kickstart a large-scale promotion campaign to attract investments #AdvantageUkraine. We will tell the world why Ukraine is a place for good investments and financial opportunities. I invite you to Ukraine! Invest in Ukraine! This will be your victory and a new success story for your companies. Glory to Ukraine! Start your work!” the Head of State urged.

After the video address of the President of Ukraine, the bell rang, marking the opening of trading at the New York Stock Exchange.

The government delegation of Ukraine led by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko took part in the opening ceremony.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 6 September 2022.

Thanks to the professionalism of Ukrainian IT specialists and the help of foreign partners, in particular companies such as Amazon, Ukrainian web resources and databases were protected from powerful attacks carried out from the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the first days of the full-scale invasion. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this during an online conversation with the heads of large American businesses within the opening of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

“Saving our data, protecting data – of both government bodies and private companies – was a very important fundamental step,” he said.

The Head of State noted that after the start of the full-scale war, even those Ukrainian websites that were subjected to the most powerful cyber attacks endured, in particular the portal of the National Bank, the websites of the ministries and the Office of the President of Ukraine. Data on the supply of weapons was also protected.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized, this became possible thanks to the construction of cyber security infrastructure, which was a priority from the beginning of his presidency, as Ukraine had to protect itself from Russian cyber attacks.

“That’s why we created the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. And in every state institution, in every ministry, regardless of what it does, a management vertical is built today, where there is a special CEO, a deputy for digitization. And this network, which we built, worked,” the President said.

He noted that the best IT specialists from the market were integrated into the state structure. And to pay them market related salaries, various grant programs were used.

The Head of State also expressed his belief that investments in Ukraine are beneficial both for big business and for our country, as new jobs will appear in Ukraine, and business will get excellent results thanks to smart and professional Ukrainian specialists.

“Our people are free, creative, they invest their intellect in startups,” he noted.

On the eve of the war, the Ukrainian side decided on the possibility of temporary storage of data abroad, and the Amazon company was the first to react to the full-scale invasion and offered Ukraine an unlimited and free service for storing state registers. In the first weeks of the war, 36 Ukrainian authorities transferred more than 60 of their critical registers and systems to Amazon resources, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, ProZorro systems, the All-Ukrainian online school, etc. In this way, Amazon made it possible to create a reliable backup infrastructure for Ukraine.

On the 6th day of the war, March 1, a Russian missile hit the National Data Backup Center in downtown Kyiv. Backup copies of state registers are stored there. But not a single basic register and not a single critical state service was stopped, and the state worked stably and quickly responded to the challenges of the war. In this way, the functioning of the state avoided the physical and virtual attack of the aggressor.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 6 September 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The meeting was attended by: Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhny, Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhiy Shaptala, Commander of the National Guard Yuriy Lebid, Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Roman Mashovets, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, as well as commanders of operational areas.

During the meeting, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was informed about the operational situation along the entire frontline. In particular, the defense forces succeeded in destroying missile depots, bases, headquarters and logistical routes of the Russian invaders. An active counter-battery fight is being conducted in certain areas to suppress the enemy’s forces.

According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, today thanks to the heroic actions of the Ukrainian defenders, the death toll of the occupiers has reached more than 50 thousand people. By sending soldiers to the war in Ukraine, the Russian military-political leadership bears full responsibility for the extermination of Russian citizens.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 6 September 2022.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko held a meeting with the delegation of the Republic of Latvia, during which he discussed the participation of this country in the implementation of the plan for the fast recovery of infrastructure in the regions of Ukraine affected by Russian aggression.

The event was attended by: Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Head of the Cooperation Development Policy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Madara Siliņa and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Latvia to Ukraine Ilgvars Kļava.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko informed the foreign guests about the functioning of the online platform, which contains detailed and up-to-date information about all objects in Ukraine that were destroyed or damaged as a result of the Russian invasion.

The Deputy Head of the Office of the President also presented the Fast Recovery Plan, which provides for the rapid restoration of damaged infrastructure in de-occupied cities and communities on the eve of the winter period. He emphasized that Ukrainians returning home should have a roof over their heads and all utilities. It is also necessary to ensure the functioning of schools and kindergartens.

In addition, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President spoke about the project to build residential complexes for people who lost their homes as a result of the Russian invasion.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko suggested that representatives of Latvia consider a proposal for the restoration of private houses in the Chernihiv region that were damaged during hostilities. He emphasized that the representatives of the Republic of Latvia will be able to familiarize themselves with the complete package of documentation regarding the plan for the fast recovery of the region on the online platform.

Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica noted that her country will continue to support Ukraine during the war, in particular by participating in the reconstruction. According to her, Latvia is interested in cooperation regarding the restoration of facilities in the Chernihiv region – relevant decisions are to be made at the government level.

The Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia also added that local communities should get help in restoring schools, hospitals and power grids on the eve of the winter as soon as possible.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 5 September 2022.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak notes that today, during the war with Russia, Ukrainians are fighting for their own freedom, and they also seek justice, which envisages, in particular, punishing those who came with weapons and violence to take away this freedom. He said this while speaking online at the Russian War Crimes exhibition in Brussels.

“Without justice, without this punishment for the aggressor, the world will not be free. Fear will prevail in it. And this fear will make evil stronger. Therefore, the world needs justice,” Andriy Yermak emphasized.

The Head of the Office of the President told about the scale of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Since February 24, Ukrainian law enforcement officers have already recorded more than 45,000 crimes related to Russia’s aggression, more than 31,000 of them are war crimes. And this is only the data that is already known.

According to him, there is still no final information on how many thousands of residents of the city of Mariupol died from Russian shells, bombs and missiles, how many died from lack of medicine and food due to the blockade, how many were tortured to death or simply executed. In addition, after the liberation of each new Ukrainian city or village, new tragedies may open up to the world.

Separately, Andriy Yermak drew attention to the evil caused by Russian war criminals to children. At the hands of the occupiers, 380 of our children died and more than 700 were injured. 284 educational institutions were completely destroyed by Russian shelling, and 2461 were damaged.

The Head of the President’s Office emphasized that all war crimes have specific perpetrators – those who gave and carried out criminal orders. But the main culprits are those who started this war. He is convinced that the fact of the largest armed aggression in Europe since 1945 must receive a fair assessment from the world, as it was during the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials after the end of World War II.

Andriy Yermak is convinced that the responsibility for the Russian Federation must be twofold: at the level of the state and at the level of an individual citizen. It is also important to ensure the personal responsibility of the leadership of Russia for the most serious initial crime – the crime of aggression.

“It is often called the supreme international crime. This is a crime that accumulated evil of the whole,” he explained.

The Head of the President’s Office reminded that Ukraine initiated and has been working for almost six months on the establishment of a special international tribunal for all the top leaders of the Russian Federation for military aggression against our state.

“Proving the fact of the crime of aggression against Ukraine will be the basis for a sentence. This is either life imprisonment or significant terms of imprisonment. And the actual execution of the sentence will take place as soon as one of the defendants appears on the territory of the country that joined the treaty on the creation of a special international tribunal. There are three ways to do this: an international agreement between Ukraine and other states, an agreement with the UN or an agreement with the EU or the Council of Europe,” he said.

Andriy Yermak emphasized that at the same time, Ukraine actively cooperates with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and the creation of a special international tribunal on the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine will only complement the work of this court.

For her part, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that the brutality of the war in Ukraine exceeds all possible limits.

“Ukrainians are suffering for the sake of freedom of the entire Europe. Therefore, Europe will help you to the last. And we, like you, demand that Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko be brought to justice. Because autocracy is not something we in Europe can return to. Therefore, we will do everything possible to stop it,” said the President of the European Parliament.