Speeches

I received a report from the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, on the work of our services that help Ukrainians in the aftermath of Russian strikes. Kherson came under brutal attack today: drones targeted civilian transport, and passenger minibuses were hit. Tragically, lives have been taken – my condolences to their families and loved ones. People have also been wounded, and all are receiving the necessary assistance.

On the contact line, infantry must be provided with the strongest possible conditions. This will also apply to financial support. I have instructed that monthly contract levels for infantry on the contact line be set at 250,000 to 400,000 hryvnias.

Defense against this threat requires all elements: countering Russian military aviation, countering their arms industry, pressuring their component base by restricting supply chains, and, of course, our drones and our missiles.

In some production areas, we currently have up to 50% surplus capacity. The export of Ukrainian weapons will become a reality. The Ukrainian military will always have the right to priority and sufficient supply – they will take what is needed, and the volume beyond that will go to export.

Russia is not slowing down its military industry – only we are reducing its pace through our Ukrainian long-range sanctions. We are also working actively with partners to ensure they use every possible method to cut off supplies of components and machine tools for weapons production in Russia. But strategically, this must be the objective – our own ballistic missile defense system.

It is important that the world does not follow Russia’s lies about this war – and about everything Russia is doing against Ukraine and Europe. Every Russian strike now proves that there can be no cooperation with Russia until it decides to end this war and move to diplomacy.

oday, Maia Sandu and I focused primarily on these issues: security, our cross-border cooperation, our defense, infrastructure development, and energy. We also had a very substantive discussion about our path toward the European Union – undoubtedly a path of partnership, a shared path.

Today, we have signed six documents. Our teams will certainly share the details later. They cover various areas. Security is the top priority today – the defense-industrial complex.

The EU asked Ukraine to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been destroyed by Russia. We have repaired it. We hope the EU will also deliver on the agreed commitments.

No one can say now what the situation will be next winter. We hope diplomacy will work, but we must be prepared for any scenario. That is why, for each of our regions, facilities have been identified that require special protection, as well as those that require priority restoration after the strikes this winter.