Tag: Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 13 October 2022.

Thank you so much for your support and for such profound words. Very clear, important words, actions, messages from you!

Dear Mr. President!

Dear Mrs. Secretary General!

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, attendees!

Dear Europeans!

I am grateful for the opportunity to address you today.

These days, Ukraine wakes up every morning with two questions: what else became the target of Russian terror overnight and where else did our forces manage to defeat these terrorists?

And when I say “these days”, I don’t mean two days or a week, or even a month.

The Russian terrorist war against Ukraine has been ongoing for 232 days – after 8 years of war in Donbas.

I think you are well informed about what Ukrainians have to go through these days. There is no shortage of information in the European media about specific manifestations of Russian terror, about the specific course of this war. The Ukrainian delegation to PACE also works quite effectively, emphasizing what is important for Ukraine and the whole of Europe.

So, I will not waste time telling you about new targets of Russian terrorists and events on the frontline.

I want to focus on something else – on how and when we will be able to put an end to “these days”.

When the war will end. When peace will come. When our territorial integrity and peace on the entire Ukrainian land will be restored.

I remember when I became President of Ukraine in 2019, our state was experiencing pretty complicated relations with the Council of Europe. Then the Russian delegation returned to the PACE hall. In fact, there was an attempt to write off everything that Russia did against Ukraine and European values, starting in 2014. Write off under the guise of stories that it was necessary to maintain dialogue with Russia at all possible levels.

Then the word “dialogue” masked the desire to turn a blind eye to reality. And even worse, this word masked the desire of some subjects to join the corrupt flow of money from Russia to Europe, which caused a lot of trouble in European politics.

There is nothing like this this year. And I am grateful to you for that. Sincerely grateful.

When Russia launched a full-scale invasion, you quickly made a principled decision and expelled the aggressor state from the Council of Europe. You also adopted resolutions condemning Russian terror and the crimes of this state against international law. Principles reign at all other levels of European institutions as well.

But what does all this actually mean? This is evidence that a real dialogue has finally begun. An honest dialogue. A needed dialogue. And it’s not just the word “dialogue” that masks something. It is the real search for solutions.

A dialogue between Europeans.

A dialogue about how to save people’s lives and how to protect our values. About how Europe can withstand when everything that is fundamental to peace is attacked and when this attack is carried out not by some marginal political group, which has already happened in Europe, but by the geographically largest state in the world. The state that has been preparing for war for decades and turned the destruction of human rights into its ideology.

And we see the historically important results of this dialogue in Europe – between Europeans. We see actions that have strengthened Europe in an unprecedented way.

Never in history has a united Europe been as strong as it is now. Focused on everything necessary to prevent Russian terrorists from ruining our lives. This is the power of dialogue.

We isolate Russia together. Together we punish terror and make it feel the price for the war it unleashed.

Thanks to our dialogue, we have significant defense and financial support programs for Ukraine. And support programs for Ukrainians – those who left their homeland to escape hostilities.

Thanks to our dialogue, a lot has been done to protect Europe from Russian energy weapons. What has been called for for decades has become a priority for both national governments and European institutions.

And we should continue this kind of dialogue. Dialogue between us. Dialogue with our partners in the world.

I ask you at all levels – in politics, in the media, in communication with voters – to defend the provision of Ukraine with a sufficient number of modern anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems. Already this year, we need to protect our sky from the terror of Russia. If this is done, it will be a fundamental step to end the entire war in the near future.

We must continue our dialogue to further reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war. In particular, it is vitally necessary to deprive the aggressor state of profits from the export of oil and gas. Russia must see zero in the accounts to start thinking about the benefits of peace. This should be the purpose of EU sanctions packages.

We must continue our dialogue in order to finally find a way to force Russia to comply with the demand of the IAEA and without exaggeration all of humanity – to ensure the demilitarization of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia must not only withdraw military equipment from there, but also take away all its militants.

We must continue our dialogue in order to hold Russia as the aggressor state and each of the Russian murderers and torturers to account for all crimes in this war, for every manifestation of terror. When these legal mechanisms are established and operational, it will be one of the most powerful guarantees of long-term peace.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Europeans!

This year we saw that Russia deliberately rejects any real dialogue with us. Russia wants to speak the language of terror only. And that’s a fact.

This fact must be recognized at all levels: politically, legally and on the battlefield in Ukraine – by supporting our defense capabilities. And I am grateful for the fact that the PACE can become the first international organization that designates Russia exactly this way – as a terrorist state.

But we also saw the power of a real dialogue between us. Dialogue on how to stop terror.

As a result, Europe is much stronger than anyone thought. And potentially, our ability to protect freedom, the rule of law, human rights and social justice is even stronger than we think about ourselves even now.

Europe can play a historic role in the creation of the Special Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Let’s do it! This will be the best way to protect the principles of international law.

Europe can take the lead in the efforts to compensate for the damage caused by this war. We have to create an appropriate compensation mechanism – and we suggest the way to create it. The corresponding project has already been prepared by Ukraine. I urge you to support it – both in Europe and at the level of the UN General Assembly.

All the more so since it is in Europe that the lion’s share of Russian assets is concentrated – both of the state itself, and of corrupt officials and corrupt businesses associated with the aggressor state. Russian assets should be directed to compensation for war losses.

If you put your hand on your heart, each and every one of you knows perfectly well what elements should be in the formula of peace. All of you hear what the dialogue is about in Ukraine, in Europe, in the world to end this war and restore peace.

Ukraine offered its way to peace. This is the European way.

The way of dialogue and principles. The way of implementation of the agreed decisions for the protection of Ukraine and humanity and constant increase of the price of the war for the aggressor. The way of bringing the perpetrators of the war to justice and compensation for damages. This is the way to victory.

It is much shorter than it seems. But only on the condition that the dialogue for its sake is honest, between all those who really value freedom, and that the word “dialogue” does not mask the desire to turn a blind eye to war.

I thank you for your attention! I thank you for your great support!

Long live Europe!

Glory to Ukraine!

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 12 October 2022.

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 12 October 2022.

Ukrainians!

The enemy launched a second wave of terrorist attacks against our country.

As of this morning, there were 28 missiles, of which 20 were shot down. More than 15 drones, almost all of them are Iranian combat drones. Most were shot down.

I am thankful to all our warriors of the Air Forces, Ground Forces and Intelligence involved in defense against these Russian strikes!

And, by the way, at the request of the military command, I want to celebrate soldier Dmytro Shumskyi (anti-aircraft missile platoon of the 57th separate radio engineering battalion, Chernihiv direction) for yesterday.

On October 10, Dmytro Shumskyi showed excellent skills and reaction and shot down two terrorists’ cruise missiles with the help of Stinger MANPADS.

One person saved dozens of lives. Thank you for that!

Restoration works are taking place quite quickly and efficiently throughout the country.

If it wasn’t for today’s strikes, we would have already restored the energy supply, water supply and communications that the terrorists damaged yesterday. And today, Russia will achieve only one additional thing: it will delay our recovery a little.

Where there was destruction, the infrastructure will be renewed everywhere. Where there were losses, there is already or will be construction. Where there were any hopes of the enemy, there will be ruins of Russian statehood.

And I thank everyone who, at their level, provides recovery after terrorist attacks.

I am grateful to the rescuers – more than a thousand employees of the State Emergency Service, who immediately arrived on calls and began neutralizing the consequences of terrorist attacks.

At the suggestion of the Minister of Internal Affairs, I would like to especially note the selfless and determined actions of senior ensign Borys Shapovalov, commander of the department in the Zaporizhzhia region; sergeant Oleksandr Smiyan, firefighter-rescuer, Zaporizhzhia region; ensign Yuriy Lozynskyi and junior sergeant Oleksiy Biletskyi, respirator workers of the mining and rescue department, Kyiv city.

I am grateful to all the doctors who helped the wounded and injured!

I am grateful to all energy workers and utility workers for their high-quality response and quick work.

I am grateful to the local government workers, heads of local government and government officials who worked together, truly in unity and excellently.

Now most of the cities and villages that the terrorists wanted to leave without electricity and communication are already with electricity and communication.

In some cities and districts, work is still ongoing. In some cities and districts, energy workers apply temporary restrictions on energy supply according to the schedule – this is necessary solely in order to maintain the stability of the energy system.

The government controls all this – we are trying to restore normal conditions as quickly as possible.

I would also like to thank all Ukrainians who listened yesterday and limited their own electricity consumption during peak hours – from 17:00 to 22:00.

Thanks to our conscientiousness, we managed to save a tenth of the energy on average in the country, which allowed the system to work more stably. And our goal should be to save a quarter of electricity precisely during these peak hours.

It should be done today and in the near future.

Please postpone the energy consumption of appliances that require a lot of electricity to other hours of the day. It is not difficult for an individual, and it gives a great result within the scale of our entire country.

I took part today in the extraordinary summit of the Group of Seven, which was convened by the German presidency on our initiative.

We discussed the response of the most powerful democracies to this new Russian escalation.

For such a new wave of terror there must be a new wave of responsibility for Russia. New sanctions, new forms of political pressure and new forms of support for Ukraine.

Tomorrow, the defense support for Ukraine will be discussed in the “Ramstein” format. I expect progress from our partners on the issue of air and anti-missile defense, agreements on new supplies of other weapons and ammunition we need.

The terrorist state must be deprived of even the thought that any wave of terror can bring it anything.

A separate task for intelligence is to establish all those involved in these missile attacks against Ukraine, in schemes with Iranian drones.

The individual responsibility of terrorists should be the same as the responsibility of the terrorist state. We work for this.

Today I had separate conversations with the Prime Minister of Italy and the Prime Minister of Australia. I heard absolutely clear support, absolutely clear condemnation of all manifestations of Russian aggression against Ukraine and international law.

We also have a detailed statement from the Group of Seven, in particular, that all those responsible for terror against Ukraine will be brought to justice. Starting with the current political leadership of Russia and ending with everyone who serves these terrorist interests.

Mankind and humanity are stronger than any terrorists. I am thankful to everyone who fights and works for our victory!

And one more thing. Today, 32 of our warriors were freed from Russian captivity. We do everything for Ukraine – possible and impossible. Gratitude to everyone who worked for this result!

Glory to our beautiful people! We will restore everything that was destroyed!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 11 October 2022.

Fellow Ukrainians!

Another day of our defense. A difficult day.

Restoration work is currently underway across the country. We will restore all objects that were damaged by today’s attack by Russian terrorists. It’s only a matter of time. I tasked all structures of our state to ensure recovery as fast as possible.

In some cities and regions, where there were blackouts due to shelling, the electricity supply has already been restored.

As of now: Kharkiv region – 50% of energy supply has been restored. Energy crews need several hours to restore electricity supply to the majority of districts.

Poltava region – restored almost everywhere. Mykolaiv region, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa region – connected. Cherkasy – connected. Khmelnytskyi – there is light in most parts of the city.

In some cities and districts, efforts are still needed to give people electricity. Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kyiv and Kyiv region, Lviv region, Ternopil region, Dnipropetrovsk region – we are working. Somewhere it takes hours, somewhere you have to wait a little longer, but the result will be everywhere.

Unfortunately, 12 people died today in this terrorist attack. More than 80 were wounded or injured. Everyone who applied for help gets it.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine and all those involved in the defense of our state also perform their tasks.

Of the 84 Russian missiles launched against Ukraine, 43 were shot down. Out of 24 Russian drones, 13 were shot down. And even after that, every ten minutes I get a message about the downing of Iranian “Shaheds”.

Only in the last hours…

16:28 – “Shahed” was destroyed, Litky district.

17:26 – Kremenchuk, “Shahed” was destroyed.

17:36 – Cherkasy, “Shahed” was destroyed.

17:40 – Dovhyntseve, Kryvyi Rih, “Shahed” was destroyed.

17:50 – Apostolove, “Shahed” was destroyed.

And it’s like that all day long. Now as I speak I continue to receive such messages. Therefore, please follow the safety rules and pay attention to the air alarm. The danger is still there. But we are fighting.

I am grateful to our Air Forces and Ground Forces units that were involved today!

The leaders of the terrorists say that they hit all the targets they planned.

First, they lie, as usual.

Secondly, they lie, as usual. Take a look at their real targets, apart from energy facilities. Look at just one example of our capital…

The crossroads in Kyiv where I stand. The crossroads of Volodymyrska Street and Shevchenko Boulevard. That’s the target.

Seven hundred meters from here is the bell tower of St. Sophia’s Cathedral. Moscow did not yet exist when it was already standing.

A little further there is Volodymyr’s Hill, a place that became the source of Christianity and culture for Eastern Europe. In particular, for the territory that much later came to be called Russia.

Next to me are the buildings of the Shevchenko University, which will soon celebrate its 190th anniversary. They are damaged now by this Russian strike. But we will restore everything.

The Teacher’s House was also damaged today. At one time, the Central Council of Ukraine worked there, and for Ukrainians this place will always be a place of memory about our glorious history of statehood.

And right behind me there is a playground in Shevchenko Park, which also became a target for a Russian missile. But it is not just in Shevchenko Park. It is on one of the main museum streets of Kyiv. In particular, the Khanenko Art Museum was damaged by this attack by terrorists.

And it’s like this in all the cities of our state – civil, cultural, educational facilities. Who can fight all this? Who can rejoice at strikes on such objects and such land?

They say they want to push Ukraine back into the XVIII century. But they pushed themselves back into a much older era, in the era of savages, which they became quite consciously.

And Ukraine will still remain in the XXI century.

Kyiv saw various strangers. And survived them all. Kyiv will also survive this onslaught of terrorists who have no history, no tradition, no culture. They are temporary. And even if they live for 70 years, they still don’t have enough time to understand anything.

Ukraine cannot be intimidated. We united even more instead. Ukraine cannot be stopped. We are convinced even more that terrorists must be neutralized.

The Russian army carried out these strikes during the morning rush hour on purpose. This is a typical terrorist tactic. They wanted to incite more fear and affect more people. They affected. They affected the whole world.

Today I have already spoken with the Chancellor of Germany, the President of France, the Emir of Qatar, the President of Poland, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I had a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador. Now I have conversations scheduled with the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States. Tomorrow – with the Prime Minister of Italy.

I am grateful to all for the unambiguous support!

We’re consolidating the world. And I feel that the world is with us. An extraordinary meeting of the G7 is already scheduled for tomorrow. We are working on a resolution for the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia for all its escalating steps, for its terror. Terror inevitably receives a global response. And the blatant nature of Russian terror only encourages everyone to be more determined.

Regarding energy. We will do everything to restore normal production and supply of electricity. We need electricity to be supplied for all families, regardless of any manifestations of Russian terror. We need energy to be supplied to all our homes, in all regions.

Therefore, we need a reasonable consumption of electricity now. There are hours of peak load on the power system – from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. I am asking you, please, at this time, consume electricity in such a way as not to overload the power system. Please postpone washing, ironing, repairing and using other electrical appliances that consume a lot of energy before 5 p.m. or after 10 p.m. A strong request.

The more Ukrainians consume electricity in this way, the more stable our energy system will be.

We are doing everything to get modern air defense systems. And I am grateful to the partners who are already speeding up the delivery.

We are doing everything to strengthen our Armed Forces. And now the occupiers already cannot oppose us on the battlefield, that is why they resort to this terror. Well, we’ll make the battlefield even more excruciating for the enemy. And we will restore everything that was destroyed.

Please help each other! Please take care of those who are left alone in such circumstances! Believe in yourself, in Ukraine, in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in our victory!

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 10 October 2022.

Ukrainians!

The morning is tough. We are dealing with terrorists.

Dozens of missiles, Iranian “Shaheds”. They have two targets.

Energy facilities throughout the country. Kyiv region and Khmelnytskyi region, Lviv and Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Zhytomyr region, Kirovohrad region, the south of the country.

They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are incorrigible.

The second target is people.

Such a time and such goals were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible.

But. We are Ukrainians. We help each other. We believe in ourselves. We restore everything destroyed.

There may be temporary power outages now, but there will never be an outage of our confidence – our confidence in victory.

Why such strikes exactly? The enemy wants us to be afraid, wants to make people run. But we can only run forward – and we demonstrate this on the battlefield. It will continue to be so.

Rescuers are working now. Our air defense system is working. 38 aerial targets have already been shot down.

Please stay in shelters today. Thanks to the help of our military, everything will be fine.

Always follow the safety rules. And always remember: Ukraine existed before this enemy appeared, and Ukraine will exist after it.

Glory to Ukraine!

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 10 October 2022.

Today I want to address those in the world who give in to Russian manipulations about the alleged negotiations. About an assumption that it is supposedly only negotiations that can end this brutal Russian terrorist war.

Does the terrorist state want peace? Obviously not. It proves that every day and every night.

Zaporizhzhia. One of the Ukrainian cities against which Russia directs its missile terror.

At least 14 people died last night as a result of Russian strikes on ordinary residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia. Unfortunately, this number may increase. Debris is still being cleared. More than 70 people were injured, including 11 children. All of them are provided with proper aid.

Hundreds of families were left homeless. An entire block, from the first to the sixth floor, was destroyed by one of the missiles – a heavy anti-ship missile Kh-22 – aimed at an ordinary nine-story residential building.

It was a deliberate strike. The one who gave the order and those who carried it out knew what they were targeting.

The strikes this night continued a series of Russian missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia, which have killed at least 43 people since October 3 this week alone. And there were also strikes on Kharkiv, on the cities of Donbas, on other cities of Ukraine… There were also strikes by Iranian drones. Airstrikes. The absolute majority of them were aimed at the civil infrastructure of Ukraine and civilians.

When someone wants to negotiate, he does not do so. And when someone is a terrorist, that’s exactly what he does.

Do negotiations really help overcome terror? Now everyone has to answer this question honestly. Terrorists are neutralized.

Terrorism is a crime that must be punished. Terrorism at the state level is one of the most heinous international crimes, which threatens not just someone in the world, but the entire international community.

If terror goes unpunished, if the terrorist succeeds in intimidation so much that someone in the world is willing to simply turn a blind eye to terror, then that will be a loss – a loss of freedom, a loss of humanity and a loss of democracy. This is exactly what Russia longs for. This is why it needs all this terror – from missile strikes to global crises provoked by a terrorist state.

This has already happened in history. Last time another terrorist state was allowed to do what it wanted because the world powers were afraid of its terror, World War II started.

Now the world is united. Now everyone in the world understands what this war in Ukraine is actually being waged against by Russia. This is a Russian war against all those values that make people human and life peaceful.

Ukraine will win this war. We can liberate our entire land and we can put the terrorist state in place. Russia must be punished for terror. Only this guarantees that the confrontation will not grow to an even greater scale and will not spread to other countries.

But for this we must preserve the maximum unity – the unity of all the people of the world who value peace, respect the right to life for everyone and are honest enough to admit: the constant terror against the civilian population is an obvious Russian refusal to engage in real negotiations.

Therefore, official designation of Russia as a terrorist state is needed – designation at all levels.

It is necessary to limit any economic contacts with any Russian subjects – you cannot be a sponsor of terrorism.

We need a clear condemnation at all levels of every escalating step by Russia – from terrorist attacks to the criminal attempt to annex our territory. The relevant resolution will be considered by the UN General Assembly in a few days. We will see from the vote who and how treat terrorists in reality.

And Ukraine needs principled and sufficient aid. Aid to our people who are targeted by the terrorist state. It is necessary to accelerate the provision of a sufficient number of effective air defense systems to Ukraine. The negotiations on the provision of such air defense systems, the negotiations on increasing other defense, political and financial support for Ukraine are the only possible negotiation format that can really bring peace closer.

I am grateful to everyone who helps us resist terror!

I am grateful to everyone who fights and works for the return of peace to Ukraine and guarantees of the right to life and security to every Ukrainian.

Eternal memory to all victims of Russian terror!

Glory to Ukraine!

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

Dear Ukrainians!

Today was a good and mostly sunny day on the territory of our state. It was about 20 degrees and sunny in large parts of the country.

Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it is also warm. But no matter what the clouds are, Ukrainians know what to do. And they know that our future is sunny.

This is a future without occupiers. Throughout our territory, in particular in Crimea.

If the occupiers flee while they have a chance, this will be the best option for them. If they are forced to stay, any occupier can find a way to surrender to Ukrainian captivity.

We guarantee the preservation of lives to all Russian military servicemen who voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender.
Ukraine always adheres to all international norms and conventions.

We will not leave any other options for the occupiers to rely on.

And again and again I want to thank all our citizens who are fighting and working for peace for Ukraine, for the liberation of our entire land.

This day, the movement of our military, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Guard and all those who take part in active actions – actions in the east, actions in the south of our country – continued.

We are holding positions in Donbas, in particular in the Bakhmut direction, where now it is very, very hard, very tough fighting. Today, I would like to once again mention our soldiers from the Kholodny Yar 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade for their courage and sustained power in this direction.

Thanks to all our anti-aircraft gunners and everyone involved in the air defense of Ukraine.

We are doing everything we can to defend Ukrainian skies, and it is one of the highest priorities for our diplomats to speed up the decision of our partners to provide Ukraine with modern and effective anti-aircraft systems in sufficient quantity.

We will definitely come to that.

In the de-occupied territories, we do not slow down the pace of reconstruction work for a single day. It’s transport, it’s electricity, it’s gas supply, it’s postal services, social benefits – wherever there is a real possibility to provide it, we provide it.

I must ask all Ukrainians in the territory where the occupiers were to be especially attentive to the mine threat.

Our explosive ordnance disposal teams, our bomb disposal engineers are working at their maximum, but after the occupiers, a very large area is contaminated with mines. Please do not ignore mine warnings, do not visit areas closed due to danger, please report any mines or unexploded ordnance found to the police, emergency services or local authorities.

And I want to add one more thing.

Lawyer’s Day is celebrated in Ukraine today. Not everyone who has a law degree works in law. But among those who still work in this field, there are people whose contribution is truly historic. Very important.

Those who investigate into the crimes of the occupiers. Those who help to restore justice, in particular by working in the field of human rights. Those who do everything so that every Russian murderer and the aggressor state itself are inevitably punished for this war. I thank all of you for this very important work!

I’m thankful to investigators, prosecutors, human rights defenders, lawyers, civil servants, and employees of public organizations.
I’m thankful to everyone who teaches law, fights for the rule of law and helps people defend their rights, freedoms and legitimate interests.

Justice for Ukraine, for Europe, for the world must and will be restored. Thanks to our indomitable, strong, conscientious and educated people.

Eternal glory to all who defend Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

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

Dear Ukrainians!

An important decision was made today. It’s fair. Legally perfect. Historical.

Ukraine confirmed its respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Japan, including its Northern territories, which are still under Russian occupation.

Today, I signed the relevant decree. There is a corresponding statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. And we call on everyone in the world to make similar decisions.

Russia has no right to these territories. Everyone in the world knows this well. And we must finally act.

We must de-occupy all the lands that the Russian occupiers are trying to keep for themselves.

Only in this way can we return the full force to international law. The UN Charter and the entire complex of treaties and conventions on which the international legal order is based will work only when the occupiers lose and the nations in the world are protected from any occupations.

With this war against Ukraine, against the international legal order, against our people, Russia has put itself in conditions – and it is now only a matter of time – of the real liberation of everything that once was seized and is now under the control of the Kremlin.

Russia, by its example, will show all potential aggressors of the world that an aggressive terrorist war in our time is a way to weaken and inevitably destroy the one who starts such a war.

The aggressor must lose. So be it. So that such wars do not happen again and that the peace is really long-term. Nothing should be left for the invaders.

I believe: justice will be restored for our partners as well.

This week alone, our soldiers liberated 776 square kilometers of territory in the east of our country and 29 settlements, including six in Luhansk region, from the Russian pseudo-referendum. In total, 2,434 square kilometers of our land and 96 settlements have already been liberated since the beginning of this offensive operation.

And today I want to mention the fighters of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade and the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade and note their heroic efforts to liberate Ukrainian land.

There are also good results in the south of Ukraine this week – we are liberating our land and our people there from the pseudo-referendum every day.

We will certainly come to the lands that were occupied by Russia earlier.

I’m thankful to all our defenders who ensure this!

During these 225 days, 29,887 Ukrainian soldiers were awarded state awards. A total of 178 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Such a scale of courage and heroism of our fighters unequivocally proves that Ukraine cannot be stopped.

And each of the Russian attacks, all manifestations of Russian terror – against Zaporizhzhia, against Kharkiv, against Mykolaiv, against Donbas and all our other territories – only prove that the liberation of our entire land is the only foundation of peace and security for all Ukrainians.

Today, I took part in the meeting of the European Council. I thanked our partners for the eighth package of sanctions against Russia and for all the support for Ukraine that is already provided.

We are working together to increase our common capabilities – of everyone in Europe.

Preparations have already begun for important events planned for next week, both in Ukraine and at the international level.

It will be a strong week for our state, it will be a strong week for our defense.

Eternal glory to all those who fight and work for peace for Ukraine!

Eternal glory to our heroes!

Glory to Ukraine!

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

Ukrainians!

Today is the day of active diplomacy. We inform our partners about the latest manifestations of Russian terror. About missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia and other cities of Ukraine. About the use of Iranian drones against our people and infrastructure.

For some reason, Iran claims that there are no Iranian-made drones in Ukraine. People see them in the sky. We shoot them down. But we are told that there are allegedly no Iranian drones in Ukraine. Well, we’ll find ways to ensure that there aren’t any left indeed.

We also provide information about our movement on the frontline. Since October 1, more than half a thousand square kilometers of territory and dozens of settlements have been liberated from the Russian sham referendum and stabilized only in the Kherson region.

There are also successes in the eastern direction. The day will surely come when we will report on successes in the Zaporizhzhia region as well – in those areas that are still under the control of the occupiers. The day will come when we will also talk about the liberation of Crimea.

This perspective is obvious. It is also obvious that there is still some way to go. There is still a lot to endure, a lot to do. Both for Ukrainians and for our partners – all who value freedom and international law.

I’ve talked today with representatives of political, business and expert circles of Australia. I felt full support and interest in our victory. By the way, Australia is among the top 10 countries that provide us with defense aid. This is a very significant contribution to the protection of our state, the international legal order and humanity as such.

I’ve addressed the European leaders at the summit of the European Political Community held today in Prague. I called on them to do everything so that this new format of our cooperation in Europe, which unites different states: from Iceland to Azerbaijan, from Spain to Turkey, could become not just a gathering of politicians, but a gathering of peacemakers. Europe needs a community of those who know how to protect peace and put any terrorists in their place.

These days, the European Union is moving towards the introduction of the eighth package of sanctions against Russia. In particular, this package envisages limiting the sea transportation of Russian oil and creates a toolkit to limit the oil revenues of the terrorist state. This is good. But this is only the beginning.

We must ensure that the terrorist state does not receive any profit from the sale of oil and gas. So that not a single oil dollar and not a single gas euro could go to the continuation of the Russian war against Ukraine and the entire civilized world. I am confident that it will be ensured in due time.

And I thank all Europeans, all in the free world, who work for this result. Who promote the necessary political decisions and who create the necessary economic alternatives to Russian energy resources.

I will continue working in this direction tomorrow. I will address the participants of the meeting of the European Council.

Today in Kyiv I met with Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). We discussed the existing and prospective programs of our cooperation, the implementation of our plan for the rapid reconstruction of Ukraine. The main focus of these programs is security. And we will soon introduce this new security approach to our civil infrastructure to the public.

I thanked Mrs. Power for allocating funds to prepare our infrastructure for the winter period, in particular heating.

I held a meeting today with IAEA Head Grossi, who arrived in Kyiv. It is clear that our negotiations primarily concerned the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant captured by Russian terrorists. But in fact, this topic is much broader. It concerns not only Ukraine and not only in the context of radiation safety.

Of course, any decisions of the current head of Russia regarding the Zaporizhzhia station and any attempts by Russia to transfer the station to its alleged ownership are worthless and, frankly speaking, stupid. This is a nuclear power plant. This is not some palace, Yukos or something else that the Russian leadership has already managed to steal.

Only Ukrainian specialists can guarantee that there will be no radiation incidents at the Zaporizhzhia station. And it was important to hear from Mr. Grossi that the international community will only contact Ukraine regarding the ZNPP, because it is Ukrainian property. Was, is and will be.

Now there are about five hundred occupiers at the station. And this is nothing but five hundred risks of disaster. The world understands this. And I am grateful for the support of everyone who is fighting for the return of full Ukrainian control over the station and for its complete demilitarization.

Another aspect of this topic is electricity itself. And if the Zaporizhzhia station is not working, we in Ukraine face certain difficulties. We are getting a situation where we do not have a surplus of electricity, which we can, in particular, export to EU countries.

This is a disadvantage for the people of the EU, who lose a reliable source of energy supply. This is a disadvantage for us, Ukrainians. We are honest about it. We say honestly that all of us in Europe must fight for our interests together – in complete unity.

I thank everyone who helps Ukraine!

I thank everyone who fights and works for our victory!

Glory to Ukraine!