Dear Mr. President!
I thank you for your attention to Ukraine and support for our people, our country, and our relations. Ukraine and Germany have the best relations in the history of our states. And we appreciate that our relations yield real results in protecting human lives and our European way of life.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Federal Chancellor Scholz and the entire German government team. Our agreements with the Chancellor are being implemented clearly and on time. Thank you for that!
And, of course, I thank the entire German people for their sincere support of Ukrainians and Ukraine in this confrontation that Russia started.
Mr. Mayor Jung!
Dear participants of the Conference!
I recall in the fall of 2022, Mr. President Steinmeier visited Ukraine and in particular the village of Yahidne in Chernihiv region. One of the ordinary Ukrainian villages, which, unfortunately, had to go through extraordinary cruelty. For almost a month, while the village was occupied by the Russian invaders, they kept 350 villagers – in fact, all the villagers! – in a small basement of the village school. Both babies and the elderly, women and men. 10 people died during that time right in that basement.
Mr. President Steinmeier saw the conditions and the contempt the Russians had for people in general that led to the creation of such a concentration camp in Yahidne. And yet this is more than the story of one village in Chernihiv region of Ukraine that suffered the brunt of Russian brutality.
What happened in Yahidne characterizes the very essence of this war – the threat that the current Russian regime poses to many ordinary European towns and villages. Not only in Ukraine. Because not only Ukraine is in Russia's imperial plans. At least all of Russia's neighbors are under threat.
Here at the Conference, we have representatives of very different cities and communities in our two countries. But no matter how different they are, they are united by one fundamental thing, namely, the attitude towards people. The European attitude towards people.
In our cities and communities, there should be no place for the opposite attitude to people and life – anti-European attitude – that Russia demonstrates in the occupied territory of Ukraine.
We value life. And that is why we protect it. And it is crucial that we use not only the tools available at the state level. The potential of our communities, our intercity and interpersonal ties can and should also add significant strength to our defense.
I would like to note that since President Steinmeier's visit to Ukraine last year, we have managed to almost double the number of intercity partnerships. Today we have 190 such partnerships. There are already 6 interregional partnerships. There is also German patronage over the restoration of Chernihiv region of Ukraine, the very region where the village of Yahidne, which I mentioned, is located. And I thank everyone whose efforts fill our partnerships with concrete content.
I am grateful to such cities and communities as Eichenau, Augsburg, Bergisch Gladbach, Waldkirch, Hanover, Erlangen, Jena, Dresden, Cologne, Leverkusen, Nuremberg, Potsdam, Schweinfurt and many others that are already helping our cities directly. Specifically, they are helping with generators and other equipment that saves us from the consequences of Russian terror. Fire trucks, buses, and other equipment for our citizens. Together with German companies, modular towns have been set up for IDPs whose homes were destroyed by hostilities. We are working together with German cities, companies and foundations to modernize energy capacities in the regions of Ukraine. I thank you very much for this!
I hope that the participation of Ukrainian mayors in this Conference will also be fruitful.
We are facing the upcoming second winter of this war, as Mr. President said. Russia is now amassing missiles to strike Ukraine's energy sector, as it did last year. Germany is already helping us with air defense systems and other means of physical defense of Ukraine. And at the same time, every agreement between the cities of our countries that is aimed at protecting people and lives will definitely serve to protect lives.
I am sure that representatives of Ukrainian cities can also point to opportunities for joint economic cooperation existing in Ukraine today. Not only in rebuilding what has been destroyed by Russia's aggression, but also in launching new businesses and creating new productive stories.
Ukraine is now, against all odds, delivering economic growth of almost 5 percent per annum. This is a testament to how strong our way of life is and how much our people are capable of doing.
I believe that relations between Ukraine and Germany will become one of the most reliable pillars of the entire Europe. A security, economic, and social pillar. And especially when Ukraine becomes a full-fledged part of the European Union. And I am proud of all the examples of our cooperation and sincerely wish success to all of you in developing relations between cities, between regions, between the self-government of our countries.
The closer Ukraine and Germany are, the further away Putin's insane goal of destroying normal human life in Ukraine and other countries in Russia's neighborhood is from being realized.
Germany, thank you once again for your support!
Glory to Ukraine!