Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Speech at G20 Digital Transformation Panel

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 16 November 2022.

Thank you very much, Mr. President Widodo.

Dear colleagues!

Yesterday at our summit, everyone talked about how to end the Russian war. The Russian representative even made some comments…

And after that, almost 100 Russian missiles hit Ukraine. Burnt residential buildings. Destroyed power plants again. Hundreds of cities were left without electricity, water and heat. Internet traffic has fallen by two-thirds – imagine the scale.

Unfortunately, there are human casualties. And not only in Ukraine! Russian missiles hit the territory of neighboring Poland yesterday. There should be a quick response.

This missile attack is Russia’s real performance at G20. So when I say G19, I’m not wrong. Because Russia is a terrorist, and we protect ourselves from it. Such is the reality.

And I urge you to look at today’s panel of our Digital Transformation Summit from a security perspective. This will be a timely view.

Dear leaders, you now clearly see what modern war is. Today, it is impossible to imagine life without computer networks, high-speed communication, the Internet, and even more so – without electricity. But your enemies may try to deprive you of just that.

My good advice to you is to take Ukrainian defense experience in order to guarantee the safety of your people.

We have created an IT army that prevails in cyberspace. The best specialists and companies of the country have united to protect the state.

We repelled more than 1,300 cyberattacks during the 8 months of the Russian war. In the first week of the invasion, Russia destroyed a key data center of our country, and the response solution is the “clouds” into which we moved part of the information systems.

We have built the protection of public registers. We have preserved the digital resilience of banks. Thanks to digitization, we can quickly organize social payments to those affected by hostilities.

Millions of Ukrainians use our Diia state service every day. These are more than 100 public services without contact with officials. A digital passport, opening accounts, paying fines and taxes, receiving state aid, raising funds to support the army… All this is Ukrainian “Diia”.

If you or your allies and partners do not already have such a system and such digital protection, we will be happy to help you build them!

Cyber defense is about cooperation. The stability of institutions is cooperation. Reliable communication, including satellite communication, is also about cooperation.

What we all need is to put aside disputes and develop collective efforts for global peace. The G19 can be very successful in this!

Ukraine is willing to help. Our security experience is your security experience.

And please remember that everything must now be considered from the point of view of security.

Thank you Mr. President Widodo for a very meaningful summit! Thank you all for your support!

Let there be peace!

Glory to Ukraine!