President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, who made his first foreign visit in this position specifically to Ukraine.
“We are grateful to NATO for its support of Ukraine from the very beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. Thank you very much for your first mission and decision to be in Ukraine. Thank you very much. This is a very strong signal for us from NATO and professionals,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The main topics of the meeting were preparations for the next meeting in the Ramstein format and our state's defense needs. The President noted that one of Ukraine's top priorities was the implementation of the agreements reached at the NATO Summit in Washington on strengthening Ukraine’s air defense. The Russian dictator does not want the war to end, and only Ukraine's strong position and pressure on Russia can force the aggressor state to establish a just and lasting peace.
Special attention was paid to the operational launch of the NSATU mission “Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.” According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is counting on concrete results of its work, in particular, on strengthening coordination in military assistance.
The Chair of the NATO Military Committee assured that the North Atlantic Alliance is ready to fulfill all its commitments, as it considers Ukraine an integral part of the transatlantic defense architecture.
“The message I would like to convey not only to you, but to everyone, is that NATO is on your side. We are determined to fulfill all our commitments and to defend all the values and principles that we share,” he added.
In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Giuseppe Cavo Dragone discussed the continued military assistance from NATO member states and direct investment in the domestic production of long-range drones based on the Danish model. At one of the defense industry enterprises, they got acquainted with the production capacities and characteristics of Ukrainian long-range weapons and spoke with the people working there.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the employees for their service to the state and for their work, which every day brings tangible results and strengthens our army with domestically produced weapons; he also presented them with state awards.
“Thank you for your work. It's very gratifying to see that we have something to show, and it's not theoretical – it’s your tangible result. A real result that helps us and is feared by the Russians, the enemies of our state. It’s a great pleasure to be here with our NATO colleagues. It's truly rewarding when they see the high level of achievement Ukraine has reached during this war. The level of domestic production during wartime is exceptionally high,” the President said.
