In Just This One Week, the Russians Have Used Against Ukraine Almost 1,200 Attack Drones and 50 Missiles of Various Types – Address by the President

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Dear Ukrainians!

Rescue operations at the site of the Russian "shahed" strike on a residential building in Kyiv have been completed today. Rescuers have been working since the night, and the firefighting efforts took quite a long time as well. As of now, all emergency work across all affected sites has been finished. Just today, in Kyiv alone, three people have been killed in the Russian attack and another 31 injured - among them children, seven children. We thank everyone who is helping people - every rescuer, all municipal services workers, everyone who is truly making every effort to help.

In just this one week, the Russians have used against Ukraine almost 1,200 attack drones and 50 missiles of various types - most of them, in fact, ballistic. Protection against such a threat can only be a collective effort - no nation in the world should have to stand alone against it. And during this week, we have moved even closer to the decisions we need. I had a conversation with the Chancellor of Germany, and we are communicating with other European partners regarding the Patriots. I want to express my particular gratitude to the United Kingdom and France: there is a decision from France to provide Ukraine with additional Mirage fighter jets and air defense missiles, while the UK will continue to assist us with air defense by supplying missiles and producing interceptor drones - thank you for that. There are also new decisions by Finland and Spain to contribute to the PURL initiative - a mechanism for procuring American weapons, including those very missiles for the Patriots. We are working on this with full focus, and our defense arrangements with European partners are working clearly. We are preparing new projects - there will be more joint weapons production. And for the world to address Russia from a position of strength, we in Ukraine must stand on strong ground ourselves. It's crucial to always compare what the Russians were commanded to do and by when, with what they actually managed to achieve.

Ukraine's resistance is truly heroic. I thank everyone fighting on the front lines, holding the combat posts, those training and improving our protection. I thank everyone working for our defense and the benefit of our state. These days, we've had good news from our Ukrainian paratroopers - our 82nd Bukovynska Brigade, operating in the Pokrovsk direction, in the Myrnohrad community. And every such success in the Pokrovsk direction now is incredibly hard to achieve, yet critically important. It is there, near Pokrovsk, that the Russians have concentrated their main strike force - a significant number of enemy troops. Of course, this creates a difficult situation in Pokrovsk and all nearby areas - fierce battles in the city and on its outskirts. There are enemy reconnaissance and sabotage groups in the city. Logistics remain difficult. But we must continue destroying the occupiers; we must continue inflicting the greatest possible losses on the Russians. Russia's plans for its offensive campaign have once again been shattered over the past ten months - thanks to the bravery of our very own warriors. And all the deadlines that Putin set: the Russian army failed to meet them, and this is not the first time. A lot has been achieved as part of the Dobropillia operation. In these areas, there has also been a significant replenishment of Ukraine's exchange fund. I thank every soldier, sergeant, and officer fighting there in the Donetsk region, as well as in Kupyansk and Zaporizhzhia - all of this strengthens our positions in diplomacy, and greatly supports, overall, our relations with the world. Thanks to your strength, Ukrainian warriors, the world continues to have strength - and an incentive to keep pressuring Russia for this war, to keep pressuring until Russia is forced to stop this war.

I would like to commend, for the results achieved on the front lines this week, - in addition to the already mentioned 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade - also the units of the 1st Assault Regiment, the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 33rd Mechanized Brigade, the 4th Battalion of the 71st Jaeger Brigade, the 92nd Assault and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, as well as the warriors of the 132nd Reconnaissance Battalion - thank you all! And that's the Donetsk region. Also, for fighting in the Kharkiv region, especially near Kupyansk, I want to highlight the units of our 127th Heavy Mechanized Brigade - well done, warriors! On the Oleksandrivka axis - the 414th Unmanned Systems Brigade, thank you; also the 5th Assault Brigade, the 225th and 425th Separate Assault Regiments, and the 141st Mechanized Brigade - thank you, warriors!

I thank everyone who understands that it is precisely on the front, precisely in defense production, and precisely in the resilience of our people that the ability to preserve and protect normal life is truly being won - not only for Ukraine, but for all of Europe. I thank everyone who stands with us, I thank everyone who stands with Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!