Small Wars Journal

Ukraine: WAR BULLETIN April 7, 6.00pm EST

Fri, 04/08/2022 - 10:46am
Also posted on the Small Wars Journal: 
 

 Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations

 

WAR BULLETIN

April 7, 6.00pm EST

 

President V.Zelenskyy: More and more countries around the world support the need for full and transparent investigation of all war crimes of the Russian occupiers in Ukraine.

Minister D.Kuleba: Russia’s rights of membership in the UN Human Rights Council has just been suspended.  War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights. Grateful to all member states which supported the relevant UNGA resolution.

A Russian enemy's main efforts are focused on capturing the city of Mariupol, conducting an offensive near the city of Izyum and trying to break through the defences in the Donetsk direction.

In the Kharkiv region, up to five Russian battalion tactical groups continue to blockade the city and shell it from multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars.

The enemy naval groups in the Black and Azov Seas continue to carry out missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine, isolate the area of hostilities and conduct reconnaissance.

 

 

WAR ROOM

 

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The forty-third day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a Russian military invasion continues.

Russian enemy continues to prepare for the offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Russians are regrouping troops in order to complete the formation of the offensive group. Russians are taking measures to increase the aviation component and C2 systems and continue to conduct reconnaissance.

A Russian enemy's main efforts are focused on capturing the city of Mariupol, conducting an offensive near the city of Izyum and trying to break through the defences in the Donetsk direction.

In the South Buh area, the Russian enemy is trying to prevent further advance of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to improve the tactical position of Russian units in some areas.

In the Volyn direction, there is a possibility of Russian enemy missile strikes on military and civilian infrastructure from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

In the Polissya direction, the enemy did not take active action, and the Russian forces deployed to the territory of the Republic of Belarus are carrying out active movements in order to prevent the transfer of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from this area to others regions of Ukraine.

Separate units of the Russian occupiers from the Eastern Military District and the airborne troops of the Russian Armed Forces, which are recovering and regrouping on the territory of Belarus after leaving Ukraine, are likely to be sent to strengthen enemy troops in Slobozhansky direction.

In the Siversky direction, the Russian enemy completes the regrouping and restoration of combat capability of units of the Central Military District in certain areas of the Bryansk and Kursk regions. The possibility of further sending these units to other operational areas, including for combat operations in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, is not ruled out.

In the Slobozhansky direction, Russian enemy is taking active steps to increase control and communication in the interests of the offensive group.

In the Kharkiv oblast, up to five battalion tactical groups of the Russian enemy continue to blockade the city and fire at it from multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars.

The Russian occupiers in the city of Izyum are trying to continue the offensive in the direction of Slоvyansk and Barvinkove.

In the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the enemy continues to carry out fire and assault operations, inflicts rocket and bomb strikes, conducts artillery fire on the civilian infrastructure of settlements. The port of Berdyansk is used by the Russian occupiers to transfer weapons, military equipment and personnel.

The Russian enemy also intensified efforts in the Severodonetsk direction. A Russian enemy is trying to continue the offensive in the areas of Novotoshkivske and Popasna.

The Russian enemy also tried to launch an offensive in the areas of Marinka, Borivske and Solodke, where attempts to attack were unsuccessful.

It is likely that the Russian occupiers will soon try to break through the defence of Ukrainian troops in the Severodonetsk, Avdiivka and Kurakhov districts.

The Russian enemy fired artillery in the South Buh direction and used army aircraft. Russian enemy is trying to continue the offensive in the direction of the settlement of Oleksandrivka.

The enemy naval groups in the Black and Azov Seas continue to carry out missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine, isolate the area of hostilities and conduct reconnaissance.

The Russian occupiers continue to restrict the rights of Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories. Thus, in the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian occupiers banned men from leaving to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. There is also a growing shortage of basic necessities, especially food, which could further complicate the humanitarian situation in the region occupied by the Russian forces.

Ukraine's Defence Forces, inflicting losses, continue to push back the enemy and liberate the territories temporarily occupied by the Russias.

https://bit.ly/35P8HZW

 

Ukrainian presidential adviser

The 43rd day of the active phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Out of nine operational areas in which the enemy has been advancing since the beginning of the war, two and a half remain: Anti-Terrorist Operation zone, Luhansk region, Mariupol.

In the Kherson region, where the enemy tried to attack until recently, Russian forces are now on the defensive.

Ukrainian air force continues to destroy the enemy's air attacks. UAVs shot down several planes, helicopters, and cruise missiles.

The sharp increase in the number of destroyed UAVs of the enemy shows that Russians are afraid to use aircrafts, especially army aircrafts, such as helicopters, to support their troops on the battlefield. Russian forces concentrated their aviation attacks mainly in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone. In the rest of Ukraine, enemy aircrafts are shot down by our Air forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian 95th Brigade shot down a Russian helicopter with a shot from an anti-tank missile defense system, which is an outstanding military achievement.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone. The enemy continues its military actions from Izyum to the South, the general direction to Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, and is trying to attack along the way Volodarsk-Mariinka. It is an attempt to circle Ukrainian troops.

I would like to express my special gratitude to the police officers of Ukraine who perform many complicated tasks: from counter-diversion to maintaining peace and order on our streets. Many members of the National Police have been and are directly involved in military actions, especially in areas where military actions are taking place or have taken place. Also, special units of the National Police do it persistently and professionally.

https://fb.watch/ceMPtkUa96/

 

Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Russia is stepping up propaganda among the personnel of military training centers. This is stated in a letter from the Chief of Missile Troops and Artillery of the RF Armed Forces Mikhail Matveevsky to the heads of training centers.

Particularly, propaganda includes an explanation of the "pros" of participating in the war with Ukraine. Namely, about social guarantees and increased payments.

All Ukrainian and "other" mass media are declared to be fake and inaccurate.

Instead, all Russian servicemen are obliged to read the content of the “Krasnaya Zvezda” newspaper every day.

https://bit.ly/3r9gWrm

 

Russian companies have faced serious problems in fulfilling military contracts. Inflation, due to the imposition of sanctions, "downslopes" the funds provided for the production of weapons. Additional funds in the budget of the Russian Federation are absent.

Mentioned above was a part of the report received by the Russian government on problematic issues during the implementation of state procurement contracts by enterprises of the defense industry.

https://bit.ly/3xjpnnA

 

Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian journalist, writer and former prisoner at the Isolation prison in Donetsk, met with forcibly mobilized residents from so called “DPR” and “LPR” captured by the UAF soldiers. Most of the prisoners are students of the Donetsk educational institutions.

https://bit.ly/3Ksr3iI

 

Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine

On April 7, 2022, the Russian armed forces launched a missile strike on the city of Slovyansk, as a result of which a number of private households were damaged.

https://bit.ly/3v2i15l

 

More than 464 children have been affected in Ukraine because of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. As of 7 April, the official number of child victims remained unchanged at 167. The number of injured has increased to over 297. As a result of daily bombardment and shelling, 928 educational institutions were damaged. 84 of them were completely destroyed.

vhttps://bit.ly/3DTCE80

 

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

About 400 civilians were tortured and killed in Kyiv region. About 200 people are missing in Borodyanka.

The dismantling of the blockages of apartment buildings where civilians were hiding during the air strikes has already begun.

Places of mass murder, torture and burial were found in Bucha, Gostomel, Motyzhyn.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine together with the experts from Google has launched a project to digitize the consequences of the military aggression of the Russian federation against Ukraine. The purpose of the project is to record the destruction caused by the Russian occupiers in Ukrainian cities and villages. This project started from the liberated city of Irpin. The idea is to cover as much as possible all the cities that have suffered the greatest destruction, which definitely need to be recorded. This information will be posted on Google Maps and will be available to the public. The whole world must see what Ukrainian cities looked like before and what the aggressor did to them. The first panoramic photos of the destroyed streets and buildings in Irpin will be published next week.

https://bit.ly/3je6NoO

 

For the second day in a row, rescuers of Ukraine are dismantling the rubble in Borodyanka. 109 rescuers and 18 units of equipment in the combined detachment arrived from Kyiv to carry out restoration work.

https://bit.ly/3jeqCw6

 

 

POLICY

 

President of Ukraine

Speech by the President of Ukraine in the House of Representatives of Cyprus

I am grateful for the honor of addressing you in this format and at this time. At a crucial time for my country and for the survival of the Ukrainian people. For freedom in Europe.

It is now being decided whether we will preserve the unity of our territory and our state.

Whether we will guarantee freedom for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe. For different countries where Russian troops can go after Ukraine.

The Russian military does not spare anyone - neither women nor children. Ukrainians have not seen such atrocities since the Nazi invasion during World War II. When you see so many deaths every day... When killed people are buried in mass graves in your cities, just in the yards, because it is impossible to take bodies to cemeteries...

Why does Russia wage this war? What is the goal of Russian troops? The answer to these questions is quite clear. We have heard it many times from politicians in the Russian Federation and from Russian state propagandists. We also know this answer from those documents that were seized along with Russian prisoners of war and found in the destroyed headquarters of Russian troops. They wanted to destroy our statehood and tear our country apart.

That is why the democratic world has united in its negative attitude towards Russia. Ukraine was attacked by Russia a long time ago - in 2014. When Russia tried to divide our state by force for the first time. When our Crimean Peninsula was occupied. When Russia started the war in Donbas. But then the world's response was weak, very weak. Many in the world still believed that constructive relations could be at the heart of relations with Russia. That the dialogue with Russia can be sincere and based on the principle of mutual respect.

Years have taught the world that this was all a mistake. And the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this year showed that the Russian leadership perceived the good attitude of other states simply as a weakness. Can such behavior go unpunished? Is it right that the Russian state and its citizens are trying to use your island to their advantage? While trying to destroy the whole nation. While trying to destroy another state.

I am grateful to you for the principled position with which you, together with the whole of the European Union, responded to Russia's full-scale invasion. You have adopted a powerful decision not to allow Russian warships to enter your ports. This really strengthens security throughout our region of great Europe. I am also grateful to you for your financial and humanitarian assistance. For an important resolution passed by your parliament in support of Ukraine.

But Ukrainian children are still dying from Russian weapons. All our citizens still live in hell because of what the Russian occupiers have done on Ukrainian land. Russia is still preparing plans for a new offensive against our troops, against our cities... The Russian leadership still does not want to seriously seek peace with Ukraine. In response to all our negotiating proposals, which could have been accepted long ago in the interests of peace, in the interests of all in Europe, we hear only a play on words.

This means that much more needs to be done, both at the EU and national level, to end this war. To force Russia to seek peace. Peace is an unconditional value for each of us. Therefore, I believe that together with you we will be able to provide the necessary pressure on the Russian leadership.

The Republic of Cyprus has extremely powerful tools to influence Russian society. A unique force that can be put at the service of peace. All ports in the democratic world must be completely closed to Russian ships. This must be a joint decision - at the level of the European Union.

But at the level of your state, it is also possible to at least freeze the use by Russians of all their yachts and other vessels in your waters. You can suspend the current privileges for Russian citizens. Starting from the so-called golden passports for all Russians without exception and ending with dual citizenship for them.

Probably if it is verified and clearly proven that some of them condemn the war crimes of their military and do not intend to use your jurisdiction to avoid sanctions and other restrictions against Russia, only then will it be permissible to treat these people in the old way. Any efforts by Russian citizen’s subject to sanctions to circumvent these restrictions must be stopped.

All the proper work needs to be done to prepare the European Union for the imminent embargo on energy supplies from Russia.

I do not know how many more war crimes of the Russian military must be revealed, as it was in our city of Bucha, before all EU states have enough courage for the embargo. But Russia itself has chosen this path. It destroys innocent people in Ukraine.

The democratic world must stop being a sponsor of Russia's war crimes.

Of the destruction of cities, killing of children. And the democratic world must learn to guarantee real security for every state that can fall victim to aggression.

When Ukraine says that we deserve full membership in the European Union, we mean, first of all, that we can bring to our common European home exactly the experience that can make each EU state stronger. It is an experience that can give Europe more justice.

I'm sure you feel our pain. And that is why I believe that you will continue to support Ukraine, including on the road to the European Union.

https://bit.ly/3rcea4G

 

Being brave is our brand; we will spread our courage in the world - address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The 43rd day of full-scale war is over. Russia's war against Ukraine. A war that has revealed the whole truth about our country, about all other countries, about Russia and about the world in general. This war shows how much everyone did not want to notice in our country. In our people. How much the world believed in foreign propaganda and Russian myths about Ukraine, not in reality.

We have always been like that... We have always been brave. The bravest in the world. I am sure of that. Because who else would do what Ukrainians do? Who else had so much courage to constantly fight against any manifestations of tyranny and defend freedom? In every election, in revolutions and in war. Who else had the courage to fight against all Russian forces on land, in the air and at sea? Who else had the courage to go unarmed against Russian armored vehicles where the Russians temporarily managed to seize something? Who else had the courage to tell the world that hypocrisy is a bad weapon? And not just to tell, but to convince and restore honesty in the world. Who else had the courage to persuade the largest global companies to forget about accounting and recall morality? And to teach all political leaders - whatever they are - to be at least a little Ukrainian... At least a little brave.

In fact, this is our brand. This is what it means to be us. To be Ukrainians. To be brave.

If everyone in the world had at least ten percent of the courage that we Ukrainians have, there would be no danger to international law at all. There would be no danger to the freedom of the nations. We will spread our courage. We will start a special global campaign. We will teach the world to be not just a little bit, but full of courage. Like us, like Ukrainians.

There are certain results already. First of all, they are manifested in the current sanctions against the Russian Federation. But that's the thing - the results are still "certain". Not yet the ones needed to stop Russia. To stop the war.

Please note: this is not the first day that the media has been talking not about how sanctions against Russia actually work, but about why these sanctions are important. As if they are convincing themselves that they have introduced the right things, that there are enough restrictions.

But if the sanctions really worked one hundred percent, they would not have to explain in such detail why they are important.

Therefore, I emphasize once again: more sanctions are needed. Even bolder sanctions are needed.

Courage must be a criterion for evaluating decisions. Courage and practicality.

First of all, Ukraine needs weapons that will allow us to win on the battlefield. And this will be the strongest sanction against Russia of all possible ones.

We have good diplomatic news today. Russia is gradually losing even on those platforms that it considered quite comfortable for itself.

In particular, the UN General Assembly decided to suspend Russia's membership in the Human Rights Council. It is quite logical. Quite rightly. But also not without fighting for this decision. I am grateful to those states that have supported this decision. Russia has had nothing to do with the concept of human rights for a long time already. Maybe someday that will change. But so far, the Russian state and the Russian military are the greatest threat on the planet to freedom, to human security, to the concept of human rights as such. After Bucha, this is already obvious.

And the work on dismantling the debris in Borodyanka began... It's much worse there.

Even more victims of the Russian occupiers. And what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian military did in Mariupol? There, on almost every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian troops. The same cruelty. The same heinous crimes.

More and more information is coming in that Russian propagandists are preparing, so to speak, a "mirror response" to the shock of all normal people from what they saw in Bucha. They are going to show the victims in Mariupol as if they were killed not by the Russian military, but by the Ukrainian defenders of the city. To do this, the occupiers collect corpses on the streets, take them out and can use them elsewhere in accordance with the elaborated propaganda scenarios.

We are dealing with invaders who have nothing human left. To justify their own killings, they take the murdered people simply as scenery, as propaganda props. And this is a separate war crime, for which each of the propagandists will be held accountable.

More and more countries around the world support the need for a full and transparent investigation of all war crimes of the Russian occupiers in Ukraine. Every murder case will be solved. Each of the torturers will be found. All those who committed rape or looting will be identified. Responsibility is inevitable.

Today I continued to address the parliaments and nations of neighboring countries, our partners, our friends. Today was Greece. Today was the Republic of Cyprus.

I thanked them for supporting Ukraine and joint European efforts to force Russia to seek peace. I urged to do more to stop the war. I urged Greece to use its influence as part of the European Union to save Mariupol. I urged Cyprus to take special measures against Russia. Such as the abolition of "golden passports" for Russians. As well as the blocking of yachts, the blocking of other Russian vessels in the waters of Cyprus.

I am planning an address to the Parliament and the people of Finland tomorrow.

I would like to note that diplomatic representatives of other states are returning to the capital together with Kyiv residents. The Turkish Embassy returned yesterday. The Ambassador of Lithuania returned today. Earlier, the Slovenian Embassy resumed its work in Kyiv.

I am sincerely grateful to the friends of Ukraine who support us exactly as we need it now, also at the level of symbols, at the level of diplomatic gestures.

This is also about courage.

And I look forward to the opportunity to have a meeting with everyone who is with us. With all who are brave. Come back. With all the diplomats who have returned to our capital and continue to work.

The presence of foreign diplomatic missions in Kyiv is a normal work of embassies, it is a clear signal to the aggressor that Kyiv is our capital. Not the provincial city of Russia, but the Ukrainian capital.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to do everything to repel the offensive of Russian troops in Donbas. The occupiers’ troops in this area are becoming more active and are being reinforced from Russia. We see it all. We analyze every step of the enemy. And we will provide an answer. A tough one.

And already a stable tradition: before delivering this address, I signed decrees to honor our bravest soldiers with state awards and the title of Hero of Ukraine.

344 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were awarded. Five more servicemen became Heroes of Ukraine today.

I am sincerely grateful for the service to each of our male defenders. I am sincerely grateful to each of our female defenders!

https://bit.ly/3NUAidk

 

Prime Minister of Ukraine

Denys Shmyhal: Security of citizens abroad and their future return to Ukraine should be a priority of the state

The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal chaired an online meeting dedicated to the issues of support of forced migrants who had fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian armed aggression.

https://bit.ly/3jcwjeh

 

Government and UN agencies will pool efforts to provide monetary benefits to affected Ukrainians, says Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Martin Griffiths discussed humanitarian aid, financial assistance to Ukrainians and the evacuation of people from Mariupol.

Denys Shmyhal dwelled on that the urgent need to save people from the Russian-occupied Mariupol and the importance of UN mediation in this process. For his part, Martin Griffiths aired proposals related to saving civilians.

Moreover, the sides tackled the provision of monetary benefits to Ukrainians who have suffered from Russia's armed aggression.

https://bit.ly/3xbuUg5

 

Denys Shmyhal: The Recovery Plan and the Reconstruction Fund will be part of an initiative designed to unite the whole world in support of Ukraine

The plan to rebuild Ukraine and replenish the Reconstruction Fund was discussed by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during an online conversation with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer.

The Prime Minister noted that, according to preliminary estimates, the total losses caused by the war will exceed $ 1 trillion in the coming years. The Government is preparing a Recovery Plan for Ukraine and the architecture of the Reconstruction Fund, which encapsulates the following areas:

- support for the current functioning of Ukraine - wartime economy;

- economic recovery after the war - rapid recovery of critical infrastructure and services;

- further development and modernization of Ukraine - measures aimed at sustainable, rapid and sustainable growth.

https://bit.ly/35QCQIt

 

Address by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal

We can say with confidence that the next stage of our liberation war ended in victory for Ukraine. The enemy's plans are ruined. Russia’s terrorist forces have been pushed out of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

But the war is far from over. The enemy is constantly trying to seize our lands in the East and South. Continues to launch missile strikes across the country.

Therefore, our task now is to work strenuously to continue to repel the aggressor.

Those territories that have already been liberated, we will rebuild step by step. We will help everyone who was forced to move and who remained.

As of April 6, more than 500,000 new IDPs have been officially registered in Ukraine. The same number of people have already returned home from abroad.

But millions of Ukrainians still remain in other countries. The Government, together with our diplomats and the Governments of the partner countries, is working to systematize assistance to Ukrainians who have left.

Now we are talking about the need to remove the roaming fee, about social benefits in Diia, the deployment of the Ukrainian educational process, the inclusion of Ukraine in the single European payment area and much more.

We welcome the decisions of the EU countries on the introduction of a temporary protection mechanism. After all, our goal is to return all Ukrainians home.

A separate area of work is cooperation with international organizations in Ukraine. We have already announced a joint program with UNICEF to support large families. I want to emphasize that it will apply not only to internally displaced persons, but to all families in Ukraine. Each member of such a family will be paid UAH 2,000 per month.

What is essential. This cooperation between the Government and UNICEF will be the basis for working with all other donor organizations that want to help Ukraine. We are working to consolidate such assistance in the Diia app.

At present, the Government's focus is also on helping our citizens in the territories that have recently been occupied.

First, in the liberated territories, we are developing the same programs that work for IDPs.

Food, medicine, and basic necessities are also sent to these areas as a matter of priority. We have purchased UAH 4.7 billion worth of food packages, and thousands of them have already been distributed free of charge to our people in frontline and liberated cities.

The second area of work here is the priority reconstruction of liberated cities. The step-by-step plan is ready. The Government authorized Ukrzaliznytsia to order all basic goods for urgent needs, including construction materials, from the state budget. The state will provide the necessary funds for the purchase of windows, doors, beams, boards and other necessary goods for emergency housing reconstruction.

This whole process will definitely take more than a week, so we are currently negotiating with American partners and Ukrainian producers to provide the vacated areas with modular buildings. Temporarily. Many people are left without a roof over their heads, so this is an extremely important task.

Of course, the most important stage of our work is the restoration of critical energy infrastructure. Electricity, water, gas. Work has already begun. Where there was minor damage, light and water have already been restored. Unfortunately, there are cities and villages where this energy infrastructure is almost completely destroyed, so the work will take some time. But it will throw all the necessary forces, including from other regions.

The third point that is worth mentioning today is the Reconstruction Fund of Ukraine. A working group has been set up, which is already actively working in several areas. The first is the seizure of Russia's assets in the West and the transfer of these funds to Ukraine. There is simply no single procedure in the world to do this, so we work with each country separately. But we want to receive part of these funds in the next six months to begin to quickly rebuild our country.

We are grateful to our partners who are actively continuing to freeze the accounts and assets of Russia and oligarchic groups close to the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian people are also grateful for the new package of sanctions imposed by the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. We expect that the European Union will make a statement in the coming days.

The sanctions adopted and proposed are strong but not sufficient. Ukraine hopes that the world will impose a strong oil embargo.

Yesterday during the meeting they discussed with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy the issue of imposing an embargo on Ukraine's trade in goods from Russia. Ukraine has completely halted import and export operations with the aggressor state since the beginning of the war. In the near future, we will consolidate this with government decisions, so that everyone understands the irreversibility of severing our relations with the aggressor state.

https://bit.ly/3ujnpSn

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Russia’s rights of membership in the UN Human Rights Council has just been suspended. War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights. Grateful to all member states which supported the relevant UNGA resolution and chose the right side of history.

https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba

 

At the entrance to NATO Headquarters today, I stated that there would be only three topics on the agenda of my talks with Allies: weapons, weapons, and weapons.

President Zelensky has set a clear task for diplomacy: all weapons that can be obtained from partners must arrive as soon as possible in a steady stream to the front. Literally: do what you want, but Ukrainian army must receive weapons. In fact, there is no more important task now than to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine expel Russian evil from our land.

In these six weeks, we broke through three blank walls. At first, a number of countries said they would never send us weapons. Sent. Then others said they would not give heavy weapons. Already giving. Then they began to create an artificial distinction between "defensive" weapons, which can be given, and allegedly "offensive", which cannot be given. But any weapon provided to Ukraine to protect its land from Russian invaders is defensive by definition! I lost count of how many times I repeated this in the negotiations in the previous weeks.

During this day at NATO Headquarters, I held talks with the G7, NATO and six separate bilateral meetings with partners. The conclusions are positive. Unity, full support for Ukraine, readiness not only for tactical but also for long-term strategic decisions that will help Ukraine expel Russian invaders from our land, save lives and win the war.

The main question now is not what we are promised, but when promises come true. Every day is important and every day we work to get the result, which is already there and will be for sure.

https://bit.ly/3DR4Isj