Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

More than 9 months have passed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russian troops on the territory of Ukraine. The most difficult 9 months in the history of modern Ukraine.

During these 9 months our people have experienced so much grief, tears and suffering. Bucha, Borodyanka, Izium, dozens of towns and villages all over Ukraine have experienced horror. The whole world saw that the russian army is an army of torturers, rapists and terrorists.

The last 9 months did not break us, did not break the Ukrainian people. We have defended Kyiv. The enemy managed to take our capital neither in 3 days nor in 3 months and never will. Our troops have already liberated more than half of all the territories that russia was able to seize after February 24. Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and almost the entire Kharkiv region.

You can see the number of missiles that russia fired at only one district of Kharkiv. And this is only a small part. We have liberated the only regional center that russia managed to capture in all this time – Kherson. Our army is moving forward and will not stop until complete victory.

All along, the world and Europe have been with us and supported us. Ukrainians feel this support. Your help gives us strength and resources to win.

I want to thank all our partners who support us every day. President of France Emmanuel Macron.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

President of the European Council Charles Michel.

US President Joe Biden, his team and our friends in the US Congress.

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz. Our friends from Canada – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Our neighbors and reliable partners: Prime Ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala and Prime Minister of Slovakia.

I am grateful to the leaders of all countries that support Ukraine every day, to our friends and partners for financial, humanitarian and defense support.

Leaders of almost all European countries have visited Ukraine during this time. You have seen the suffering of Ukrainians. You have seen the destruction brought to our land by russia. But you have also seen brave and unbreakable Ukrainians who have fought and will fight for their land and their freedom.

Thanks to the help of our partners, we managed to inflict more than one defeat on the russian army on the battlefield. The kremlin understands that they are unable to capture Ukraine as they dreamed about it on February 24. Since autumn, russian troops have intensified their terrorist attacks against the Ukrainian energy system. russian politicians and propagandists openly say that their goal is to leave Ukrainians without heat, light and water this winter. They believe they will break us and force us to submit or capitulate.

russia has never been and will never be a brotherly country for us. russia has never understood and will never understand free Ukraine and free Ukrainians. russia wants to torture and terrorize us. It thinks that this way it can break us. But Ukrainians bravely hold this blow, continue to work and help their state, their soldiers of the Armed Forces.

The life of millions of Ukrainians now is a daily struggle and courage. These are stories that are important to hear to understand who Ukrainians are and why they do not give up.

On November 24, another blow was struck against our energy system. People were left without electricity and water. But this new terror did not make Ukrainians panic.

On the eve of the missile attacks, this little girl was seriously ill. As a result of the shelling, her house lost electricity, heat and water. Her parents brought her to the nearest place with light – a gas station – for medical treatment. Do you see fear or panic in the eyes of this girl?

And this is Ihor, he is teaching an online lesson for students at a police station because the power was cut off at his home. But the man was not at a loss and from the police station he told his students about how our ancestors struggled for freedom and fought for their own state.

These three Lviv surgeons performed a very complicated operation on a patient’s heart. It was at this time that russia was bombing our energy system. The hospital was left without centralized power supply and switched to a generator.

That day, many of our doctors not only operated in this way, but also attended births. This is how strong and free Ukrainians are born now.

Ukrainians will not be broken by russian terror. Our people are brave and real. The emotions of our people were best described by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He addressed russia and said: “Without gas or without you? Without you. Without electricity or without you? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as scary and deadly for us as your so-called friendship and brotherhood. But history will put everything in its place. And we will be with gas, light, water and food... and WITHOUT you!”

For 2 months of systematic attacks with missiles and drones, russia managed to damage almost 50% of the Ukrainian energy system. There is almost not a single energy facility that has not been attacked. 45 substations of different voltage classes, 87 high-voltage power lines stretching for thousands of kilometers were damaged. Hundreds of russian missiles and iranian drones were launched with a single purpose: to destroy the energy system of Ukraine and leave us without electricity.

Despite the unprecedented level of attacks, russia has not yet succeeded in destroying our energy system. It retains its integrity and controllability. Our power engineers are real heroes who do their job 24 hours a day. Those repairs that require months, they do in weeks, and sometimes in days. It is thanks to their professionalism that Ukrainians have light at least for several hours a day.

We understand that russia will continue terrorist attacks and will not give up its intentions to destroy our energy system. They want to plunge us into darkness. To prevent this from happening, we need the help of the civilized world.

First, we need modern anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems to protect our skies. Over the past few months, we have received Western IRIS-T, NASAMS, HAWK systems. We call on our partners to increase the supply of air defense systems, because they will protect civilians, and help avoid the destruction of our energy system, humanitarian catastrophe and a new huge wave of migration.

Providing Ukraine with modern air defense systems is the true humanism. With these air defenses, we can close the skies and prevent russia from causing more Ukrainian deaths and suffering for Ukraine.

The second thing we need is assistance in the rapid restoration and repair of critical infrastructure. We are buying and looking for energy equipment around the world to quickly restore our energy system. We ask the international community to help Ukraine in this regard. We call for help for the millions of Ukrainians who continue to fight and remain in Ukraine.

The moment the kremlin decided to attack and destroy Ukraine, they made a fatal mistake. They miscalculated. They miscalculated everything. They miscalculated the power of the Ukrainian army. The courage of the Ukrainian people. The stability of the Ukrainian state and the readiness of the political leadership to fight against the aggressor together with its people.

I am confident that their calculation to plunge us into darkness will also fail. Thanks to the help of our partners and friends around the world, we will survive this winter. russia’s intention to plunge Ukraine into darkness is a challenge to the civilized world. We have no doubt that the world and Europe will not allow these bloodthirsty terrorist plans of russia to come true.

The Government of Ukraine and the energy sector are doing everything possible to ensure that every Ukrainian family has light and heat. At the same time, we are preparing for various scenarios, one of which may be a long-term absence of light or heat in certain regions of our country.

At the initiative of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, our Government has launched Points of Invincibility throughout Ukraine. These are the premises of state authorities, hospitals, schools, shops, pharmacies, gas stations, where Ukrainians can always warm up, get in touch with their loved ones, charge their gadgets.

About 5 thousand Points of Invincibility have been opened across the country to provide Ukrainians with light, water, heat and communication. But more is needed. For a country of more than 30 million people, we need many times more of these Points of Invincibility. We expect our international partners and people of free Europe to help provide these “islands of Ukrainian resilience”.

We are grateful to our allies for military, financial, humanitarian and other assistance. Your weapons and equipment have made our army stronger.

Financial support provided by the U.S. and the EU allowed our Government to help millions of Ukrainians suffering from the war. Humanitarian goods from all over the world help millions of Ukrainians suffering from the war. Assistance with energy equipment allows to restore the energy system faster.

We in Ukraine appreciate all this extremely. The names of the leaders of all those countries that are helping us to withstand and win today will definitely be on the pages of Ukrainian history textbooks. Our people will never forget all the assistance you provided to Ukraine in the most difficult moment of our modern history.

We appreciate what European leaders say to Ukrainians today: we are with you as long as it is necessary for your victory. For us, these are the words of true friends and brothers, and they mean a lot. We are grateful for them.

Over the past 9 months, Ukrainians and Ukrainian military have proved that they will never give up. We proved that we are able to overcome all the extraordinary challenges that our country had to face. We do not doubt for a minute that light will prevail over darkness everywhere. Ukrainian cities will shine with new strength. We have no doubt that our friends and allies around the world will help us in this.

The darkest time comes before the dawn. We will greet this dawn of a new Europe with our friends and allies side by side. Let us remember that light always triumphs over darkness.

I am grateful to everyone who is on the side of light today. To everyone who is helping Ukraine today.

We will stand together and win together, and after that we will build the renewed Ukraine together.

Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!