I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
I have just signed a decree that enacts the decision of the National Security and Defense Council following its meeting the day before. We have worked thoroughly on every aspect. All support programs for our people – programs that have proven to be effective – will be continued. Millions of people have already been helped, and we will certainly continue the relevant efforts. The Government has been instructed to allocate financial resources for direct support of our people and Ukrainian manufacturers. This is a top priority – the growth of Ukrainian production through our support. This will bring more revenues to the budget, to the citizens, more jobs to our communities, and, most importantly – more independence for our state. The law enforcement agencies have started processing all the materials provided by the Tax Service and the Financial Monitoring Service on the detected violations. There are schemes in the financial sector worth billions. The task is simple: to pull billions out of the shadow economy and use them to enable our state to genuinely help people. Criminal proceedings have already been initiated against those who created the relevant schemes, who have harmed the state and the budget, and sanctions will follow. Severe sanctions. There is also such a directive from the NSDC. Any weakening of the state in times of war – undermining our financial stability and financial security of Ukraine and thus playing into Russia's hands – will surely lead to accountability. We also continue to work on sanctions that target Russia directly – that target all those who are helping Russia finance its war against Ukraine. I discussed this today with the British Foreign Secretary – he visited Ukraine. It is vital that we keep pressuring Putin's shadow tanker fleet, which transports oil around the world and earns money for Russia's terror and war. The United Kingdom is one of the leaders in putting pressure on the shadow fleet. But it is important to impose sanctions not just on the tankers and the companies associated with them, but also on the captains of such vessels and all those involved. Ukraine has such a sanctions decision, and we will extend it to our partners' jurisdictions.
We are also preparing a new agenda for the NSDC, in addition to the issues related to the financial resilience of our state. We need to support the financial stability of every Ukrainian family, of all our citizens. In many ways, this includes the issue of prices, especially for vital things like medicines. What some pharmacy chains are doing with prices is absolutely unacceptable. And this is the responsibility of the Government, specifically the Minister of Health and the Antimonopoly Committee. Today I had a meeting with them, and I'm tired of waiting for their respective proposals. There is not much time. Everything that needs to be done is quite clear. We need concrete steps, concrete decisions that will allow us to make healthcare more affordable for our people. If there are no decisions on the availability of medicines, then decisions on personnel will follow.
And one more thing. We have significantly intensified our contacts with the U.S. Administration. We also have quite substantial communications with our other partners. Ukraine needs a real, lasting and guaranteed peace, and the means to ensure that Russia always knows what awaits those who wish to harm Ukraine. We are open to strong diplomacy, and we are preparing just such diplomacy. And this requires the resilience of our warriors, the effectiveness of our army, the modernization of our army. Today we discussed some innovations with Pavlo Palisa, a combat commander who knows the mood and needs of the frontline. I thank everyone who is helping us!
And the joy – the joy of this day: we succeeded in freeing another 150 Ukrainians from Russian captivity. Some of them had been in captivity for years. It is very, very difficult to bring our people back, but we are doing it. And we will continue to do so. We must bring everyone back.
Glory to Ukraine!