Tag: 2022

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 9 July 2022.

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you all health!

A brief report on the events of the day – it’s already the 136th day of our defense.

Today, I held a meeting with President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher and a delegation of senators after Mr. Larcher delivered his speech in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. And I am grateful to him for his inspired and neat address. The address, in which he reminded, in particular, that the front line holds as long as the rear holds, and our rear is now not only the free part of Ukraine, but also all 27 countries of the European Union, the entire democratic world. Therefore, our entire team, the Ukrainian team, works 24/7 to keep the interests of our state and our defense in the focus of every country that is already or may become part of our anti-war coalition.

Mr. Larcher also said another important thing: with every attack on Ukraine, with every crime of the Russian occupiers, with every new martyr city, the resoluteness of Europeans to help Ukraine becomes more stable. It really is. However, the terrorist state does not understand this at all and will never accept it as a fact. Only in one day, the Russian army attacked the cities of Mykolaiv and Kharkiv, Kryvy Rih, the communities of Zaporizhzhia region… It fired precisely at the residential sector – absolutely deliberately, purposefully, at ordinary houses and civilian objects. There are casualties – dead, wounded. The brutal strikes of the Russian artillery in Donbas do not stop for a single day – the Sloviansk direction, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka… You can really stop such terrorist actions only with modern, high-precision and potent weapons.

And I want to thank the United States of America for the decision to provide Ukraine with a new defense aid package in the amount of $400 million. Additional HIMARS launchers units and other high-precision weapons allow us to take precisely anti-terrorist steps and reduce Russian attack capabilities.

I held a meeting today with representatives of construction companies – with those on whom the quality of Ukrainian infrastructure – our supply routes – depends. The question of building a high-quality transport network is always also a question of safety. And in the conditions of the full-scale war, strong infrastructure is one of the key elements of defense. I thanked the representatives of the construction companies for their work, discussed with them the key tasks for the near future – it concerns both the reconstruction of our country and the additional strengthening of our logistics.

Today, I signed decrees on the dismissal of some ambassadors of Ukraine. This rotation is a normal part of diplomatic practice. New representatives of Ukraine will be appointed to the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Norway and India. Candidates are being prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I am already preparing for the new week – there will be important news, including from government officials.

Thank you to everyone who defends the state!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 8 July 2022.

I wish good health to you, dear Ukrainians!

Today, I worked all day in the field – in the city of Dnipro and in the region, in Kryvy Rih. I was on the front lines of our defense in Dnipropetrovsk region. I listened to the reports of the commanders, thanked our boys and girls, who are defending the region, on behalf of all Ukrainians.

I awarded the Golden Star to the Hero of Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Oleh Hrudzevych – commander of the tank battalion. Thanks to his personal bravery, his unit got out of the encirclement without casualties and destroyed the Russian sabotage group in a battle. A very strong person, you can feel it.

I visited the famous Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro to personally thank our special heroes – all the doctors and nurses who have been rescuing our wounded soldiers and civilians every day since February 24 and since 2014. They are extremely successful on their front lines and gave second birthdays, saved the lives of thousands of our people.

I presented state awards to our defenders who are recovering from injuries.

I am really very grateful for all the kind words I heard today in Dnipro, that I heard on the front line. Thank you, first of all.

Today, I addressed the Parliament of Slovenia. Every day and under any circumstances, we work as much as possible on the foreign policy front. And, by the way, this was already the twenty-fourth address to the parliaments of the EU countries and the first that was made near the front line. I hope that the three other EU countries will also feel that these appeals are not about politics, but about the protection of our common freedom, by the way, and therefore, we will come to the point that one day I will be able to say: all 27 parliaments of the European Union hear the struggle for freedom better than any Russian manipulations.

I also held all the necessary meetings with the leaders of Dnipropetrovsk region in general and Kryvy Rih district in particular – both military and civilian. It was about security, economy, social issues. Officials must do not just everything possible, but much more than even possible, to guarantee people a normal standard of living even in such wartime conditions.

I am returning to the capital of Ukraine.

Of course, I want to say two more things.

I congratulated Chief Commissar Zaluzhny on his birthday today. I wished him good health, I wished him and all of us the most important thing – victory. Thank you for your service!

And tomorrow, on July 9, and in fact already after sunset today, the Muslim community begins to celebrate Kurban Bayram. This is a special holiday that teaches sacrifice and guides people to do good deeds. I want to congratulate now all Muslims of Ukraine and the world and wish that the rule of peace is restored, and all kinds of evil always lose the sooner the better. The Crimean Tatar people especially expect this, and I believe that the year will come when we will welcome each other in a free Crimea.

Kurban Bayramınız Hayırlı ve mübarek olsun! Congratulations on the blessed holiday – Kurban Bayram!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 7 July 2022.

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, the main topic in our country has become the British topic – Boris Johnson’s decision to resign as party leader and Prime Minister. In the afternoon I spoke with him and thanked for the support we have received since the first day of Russian terror.

First of all, these are weapons: Stinger air defense systems, cool NLAW anti-tank systems, artillery, ammunition, armored vehicles and many, many other things. Substantial political support, strong sanctions against Russia, financial assistance to our state – more than two billion pounds have been allocated for security and defense needs alone since February 24.

Britain’s role in protecting freedom is truly global. And although this is a reflection of the position of British society, the leadership and charisma of the state leader are always of special importance. Especially at such a time – the time of Russia’s full-scale anti-European war, which started its attack on Europe precisely from our state. So it is not surprising that Ukrainians feel personal gratitude to Boris.

But let’s not forget that we are building relations between states. Great Britain’s support for Ukraine should not change, no matter what happens in London’s power circles, both Boris and all our friends in the United Kingdom assured me of this.

I met today in Kyiv with representatives of the US Congress – Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal. They represent both parties, Republican and Democratic, and both support Ukraine very fundamentally. They were the authors of the resolution calling on the Department of State to recognize Russia as a state – sponsor of terrorism. I thanked them for this activity and hope that it will be brought to fruition.

I informed the senators about the situation on the frontline, about what the occupiers are preparing for. In particular, we talked about Donbas, the south of our country, the Kharkiv region. Today, the Russian army hit Kramatorsk again – again with missiles. The occupiers also hit Kharkiv, the cities of Donbas…

In each direction, our partners have accurate information about our defense needs. This concerns air defense, modern MLRS. The greater the defense aid to Ukraine is now, the sooner the war will end with our victory and the smaller will be the losses of all countries of the world, the losses of the United States from Russian pressure on democratic societies.

Tomorrow I will continue the series of appeals to the European parliaments – it is Slovenia’s turn. Tomorrow there will also be a lot of internal Ukrainian news – a very meaningful day is ahead.

After the conference in Lugano, which was dedicated to the recovery of Ukraine, government officials have already agreed on emergency aid to our country in the amount of more than $2 billion – these funds will be directed to strengthening the budget and preparing for winter. By the way, export of Ukrainian electricity to EU countries, which has already started, is a significant support both now and during the heating season. The price of electricity on the European market is higher than in Ukraine, and this will enable energy companies to use the earned funds to provide services for Ukrainian consumers. Moreover, with unchanged tariffs.

Also, government officials are actively working on the logistics of agricultural exports. I heard the reports from the Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister of Agrarian Policy on this topic today. We will do everything to maintain access to the world market despite the Russian blockade of our ports.

And, of course, today I want to express gratitude for the final stage of the struggle for Zmiinyi – our national flag was hoisted there. This operation lasted two months. Intelligence, Special Operations Forces, “Alpha” unit of the Security Service, border guards, gunners, Navy, Air Force. And now let every Russian captain – whether of a ship or an aircraft – see the Ukrainian flag on Zmiinyi and know that our state cannot be broken.

I am grateful to everyone who defends Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 6 July 2022.

Ukrainians!

All our defenders!

Today in Kharkiv, the Pedagogical University was destroyed by a Russian missile strike – the main building, lecture halls, university museum, scientific library. This characterizes the Russian invasion with 100% accuracy. When it comes to the definition of barbarism, this strike fits the bill the most. Only an enemy of civilization and humanity can do such things – strike missiles at a university, a pedagogical university.

Already the second object dedicated to Hryhoriy Skovoroda was damaged by this strike – a monument that was on the square in front of the university. It was covered with debris, but still the monument is not broken. And the Skovoroda museum located in the Kharkiv region burned down after Russian shelling back in May. However, paraphrasing the most famous words of Skovoroda, no matter how hard the occupiers try to catch us, they will fail. We will definitely endure. And we will restore everything.

Finally it is felt that the Western artillery – the weapons we received from our partners – started working very powerfully. Its accuracy is exactly as needed. Our defenders inflict very noticeable strikes on depots and other spots that are important for the logistics of the occupiers. And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army. The losses of the occupiers will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying them.

Today, the general public became aware that in the south of our country, in the occupied areas, access to social networks, messengers and YouTube was closed. Russian forces have blocked any possibility for people to know the truth about what is happening and about our potential, which we are gradually increasing.

Ukrainian forces are currently advancing in several tactical directions, in particular in the south – in the Kherson region, in the Zaporizhzhia region. We will not give up our land – the entire sovereign territory of Ukraine will be Ukrainian. People should know it. Therefore, if you have an opportunity to speak with people in the south of our country – with Kherson, Henichesk, Berdyansk, Melitopol and other cities and villages – please spread the truth there. Use every opportunity to tell the people in the occupied areas that we remember them and we are fighting for them. We are fighting for our entire south, for the entire Ukrainian Donbas – the most brutal confrontation is currently there, near Slovyansk and Bakhmut. We are fighting for the Kharkiv region. The occupiers should not think that their time on this land is long-lasting and that the superiority of their artillery is eternal.

I held a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Staff. As always, I listened to the reports both from the military and from intelligence. We jointly determined the directions of action for the near future.

We are expanding our country’s foreign policy vectors. For the first time in the history of Ukrainian-Paraguayan relations, I had a conversation with the President of Paraguay – we appreciate the support from this country, and we will continue to strengthen ties in Latin America. I also spoke with the President of Mozambique today – I congratulated his country on the election to the UN Security Council, and I believe that Africa should get more representation on international platforms and in solving global issues. It is the African countries that are now most threatened by the food crisis provoked by Russia, and we must do everything to force the terrorist state to unblock Ukrainian agricultural exports.

A visit to Kyiv by the Prime Minister of Ireland took place, a country that helps us significantly. Ireland even helped us convince representatives of skeptical states in the European Union that Ukraine deserves candidacy and future membership in the EU. We also remember that the Senate of Ireland recognized the crimes of the Russian occupiers as genocide of the Ukrainian people. This step, as well as Ireland’s support for legal efforts to punish Russian war criminals, is very important. The help of partners together with the work of Ukrainian law enforcement officers are the very bricks from which the restoration of justice for Ukraine will be built.

Every Russian murderer, torturer and rapist who came to our land will be held accountable. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes to complete this task. There will be no peace for any of the occupiers.

I am grateful to everyone who fights for Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 5 July 2022.

Ukrainians!

All our defenders!

On the night of July 5, an air alert was announced over almost the entire territory of our country. Before that, there has been no air alert in the capital and in some regions for some time, and some people even felt particularly anxious because of such unusual silence. They were overthinking, dreading, looking for some kind of explanation – as if the occupiers were preparing for something… Actually, you shouldn’t overthink. You should not look for logic in the actions of terrorists. The Russian army does not take any breaks. It has one task – to take people’s lives, to intimidate people – so that even a few days without an air alarm already feel like part of the terror. And this evening, Kyiv and again almost the whole of Ukraine heard the air alarm. As of now, there are reports of strikes at the Khmelnytskyi region – victims, wounded are now being specified.

Our task is to hold on, to take care of ourselves, including our emotions, to help the country’s defense as much as possible, to protect the state, as much as it will be necessary for our victory.

The occupiers again hit the Sumy region, Mykolaiv and the region, the Dnipropetrovsk region. Some of the missiles were shot down by our air defense forces. And we have not reduced and will not reduce our diplomatic activity for a single day to obtain modern anti-missile systems for Ukraine in sufficient quantity.

This is a maximum task for our state – to provide basic security for Ukrainians, basic protection against missile attacks already this year. But the fulfillment of this task depends not only on us, but also on the understanding of our fundamental needs by our partners.

I spoke today with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. I thanked him for increasing security assistance to our nation by £100 million more, on top of the £1 billion defense support package announced recently. This is a very tangible aid for us.

We also discussed with Boris the system of security guarantees for Ukraine, which we are developing, which should work in the long term for our people.

Together with the Presidents of Moldova and Greece I took part in the format of a special conference of The Economist. This is already the 26th such annual event, and this year Ukraine and security were, of course, the main words at it. Why do we need it? Our state needs certainty with a safe space right now. We are working very actively to ensure that all our partners both in Europe and on other continents understand our vision of security guarantees.

Today, the results of two months of work of the United24 state charitable platform were summed up. Over this time, thanks to the participation of people from dozens of countries, we managed to collect more than two billion hryvnias for the needs of Ukraine. This is not only help to our defenders, but also contributions to demining and humanitarian needs.

I personally thanked Liev Schreiber, a very famous actor, for joining United24 as an ambassador. He is a co-founder of the BlueCheck charitable organization, which financed programs for psychological support and evacuation of more than twenty thousand orphans from boarding schools and orphanages in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Odesa regions. Liev’s organization also helps families of IDPs in Lviv. Now he, together with Andriy Shevchenko and Elina Svitolina, will work in the humanitarian direction.

And one more thing is very important. Today there were a lot of disputes in society regarding the decision of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to approve the Procedure for obtaining certain permits for those liable for military service, conscripts and reservists. I see that there are different assessments of such a decision, there is misunderstanding and even indignation in society. I instructed the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to report all the details to me during tomorrow’s regular meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief as one of the items on the agenda. I promise the people to figure it out.

And I ask the General Staff not to make such decisions without me in the future.

Glory to Ukraine!