Speeches

We expect a response – a serious one. We are working toward a response. A strong response is urgently needed – above all from the U.S., from Europe, from everyone in the world who has placed their bets on diplomacy. Russia must be forced into peace.

Back on March 11, Ukraine accepted the U.S. proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and since then, Russia has been fully responsible for stalling diplomacy.

Sanctions are one of the few real tools the world has to pressure Russia into serious talks.

It has been agreed with the American side that a ceasefire in our energy sector can begin today – we believe that once the respective statement on the results of the meetings and all the work of the teams today is published, the transition to silence regarding the energy sector can begin.

Each day like this, every night under Russian missiles and drones, every single day of this war brings loss, pain, and destruction that Ukraine never wanted.

Since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table – and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this. Every night, every single day, it carries out the most cynical strikes.

For more than three years now, nearly the entire duration of this war, our Coordination Headquarters – all the services working to bring our prisoners home – has been operating. Over four thousand people have already been returned – 4,306. And we will bring everyone back.

Ukraine’s defense production capacity, combined with partner investments – primarily from Europe – forms a reliable foundation for a new security architecture that will inevitably be established on our continent. There is no alternative to this.

We will do everything to further intensify diplomacy. We will do everything to make diplomacy effective. But every day now is about defending our independence, our state, and our people. We must remember – it is the support of our army, all our defense and security forces, and our state that determines everything.