PRESS RELEASE : Ukraine and its partners should not give Russia the initiative in this confrontation – President

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 24 August 2022.

Today, the democratic world has seized the initiative in confronting the aggressor country, so it is necessary to preserve unity in order not to lose it and win the war that Russia has unleashed in Ukraine. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with media representatives following a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Kyiv.

“Strength in the world depends primarily on our strength. The strength within our state at the very beginning of the invasion demonstrated to the whole world what it is like to be united. We are all united. I think this signal is the most important and cannot be lost. People on the battlefield see this signal – what a strong united state is, with the army, with society,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The President noted that Russia will try to influence the situation in Europe and the world with the help of information weapons and energy, using the factor of the upcoming heating season.

He noted that it is difficult for the European Union to implement the next package of sanctions, because they affect the politics within the states, primarily the EU. So it is very important to stay united in this issue.

“You can’t freeze the conflict and you can’t say: let’s wait a year, two, three… This will be our weakness. Ukraine has no right to lose the initiative and should not allow Europe to lose the initiative. Today, the whole world has taken the initiative from the Russian Federation with great efforts. And our victory in this war is unification and the inadmissibility of losing this initiative,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

For his part, Boris Johnson expressed his belief that Ukraine’s partners will overcome difficult economic circumstances and come out of these ordeals even stronger, because they will not be vulnerable to blackmail from the Russian Federation.

“Europe must get rid of dependence on Russian gas. This will be a huge geopolitical change for Europe and a disaster for Putin,” he said.

According to the Prime Minister of Great Britain, there are difficult months ahead, politicians will need to explain to the population of their countries why this happened. “But we will overcome it and we will do it in unity,” he summed up.

The President of Ukraine also thanked the United States of America for providing perhaps the largest military assistance to Ukraine.

“They are the most powerful – both economically and in terms of political influence. And when we need weapons on the battlefield, we understand that their packages can help us faster and more. We are grateful for the help to President Biden personally, to Congress, for the bipartisan support. We are at a great distance from each other. But we have repeatedly emphasized – and the US sees it – that we are fighting for the same values,” the Head of State said.