Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainian citizens!

The support of international allies is one of the main pillars for us to liberate our territories and win this bloody war. Thanks to the leadership of the President of Ukraine and the work of the entire Government team, we managed to form a powerful pro-Ukrainian coalition and unite Europe to help our country. It is critical to ensure that this unity and support for Ukraine would not diminish both in the issues of financing and arms supply, and in terms of the integration of Ukraine into the European Union and the strengthening of sanctions against russia.

I spoke about all these in Berlin with the German leadership this Sunday, and on Monday with European leaders in Brussels.

Regarding the financing. We have unblocked receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU worth EUR 8 billion. Today, the European Commission has announced the allocation of a EUR 5 billion resource. We expect another sum worth EUR 3 billion by the end of this year. I am grateful to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for the prompt and timely decision. I also rely on the prompt adoption of the proposal by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Besides, we have launched political consultations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the EU leaders on the new macro-financial assistance program for 2023. An EU support to the tune of EUR 12 billion will be necessary for us. Combined with other assistance from allies and international financial organizations, this will cover the planned budget deficit and ensure the stability of our economy.

The second block of the discussion is sanctions. Three key points are in focus here. First, a visa ban for russians throughout the civilized world. The first step in this direction has already been taken. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed to completely suspend the 2007 visa facilitation agreement with the russian federation. Another type of sanctions that must be brought to a logical conclusion is the disconnection of all russian and belarusian banks from SWIFT. The third key issue, which we also actively discussed in Brussels, is the energy embargo. The coal embargo is already in place. This results in a USD 8 billion loss for russia per annum. Oil and gas revenues of the russian budget in August were at an all-time low since the beginning of the war, but this was not enough. It is vital to ensure an oil embargo introduced by the European Union to work properly, as well as a decision to be made on a phased gas embargo. We negotiated that initially a significant restriction on the price of russian gas may be established. This will significantly limit the kremlin's ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Europe has realized that russia is waging an energy war against it, and now this understanding must be converted into a complete abandon of russian energy resources.

Henceforth, Ukraine stands ready to contribute to the energy independence of the EU due to increased electricity exports. Now we export 300 MW, and the potential is seven times more. Similarly, Ukraine can be the ‘gas safe’ of Europe thanks to our largest gas storage facilities. All these things were part of the discussion with the European and German leadership.

Moreover, we talked over the need to demilitarize the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Unfortunately, the IAEA's visit did not bring tangible results in this direction. Therefore, we propose to create an international mission with the participation of the EU, the UN and other organizations, which will facilitate the withdrawal of russian troops from the territory of the ZNPP, and the 30-kilometer territory around the station, and will contribute to its safe functioning.

The third block of discussion with European colleagues is the issue of increasing arms supplies. The European Peace Facility has been increased to EUR 2.5 billion. This means an additional EUR 500 million for weapons for our army. Germany plans to increase the supply of certain types of heavy weapons, including air defense forces as well. Five more Gepard artillery units have been delivered to Ukraine this week. In the near future, the first of three advanced German IRIS-T air defense systems should be put into service, thereby contributing to the protection of our cities from russian missiles. In addition, we discussed the creation of an additional hub for the repair of NATO’s artillery on the territory of the EU. The rest of our arrangements are now behind the curtain. But we assure you that it will be converted into many unpleasant surprises for our enemies.

The fourth block of discussion, to which we pay great attention, is Ukraine's rapid movement towards EU membership. During the Ukraine-EU Association Council, we switched from a partnership format to an enlargement format. In the coming months, we want to start substantive negotiations regarding the road map of such an entry. Free movement of goods, services, people, and capital. The four freedoms of the EU, in which we advance with confidence.

Our European partners commended the positive pace of reforms in recent months. This also applies to the seven points that were determined when Ukraine was granted the status of a candidate for EU membership, as well as other directions of introduction of European standards in our country.

Full-fledged operation of sectoral visa-free regimes is another point, within the framework of which extremely productive work has been carried out in the last six months. Energy, transport visa waivers, economic visa-free regime regarding cancellation of tariffs and quotas. From October 1, customs visa-free regime will trigger, next year – in the industrial sector. For Ukrainian businesses, this means billions of hryvnias in profits already and tens of billions in opportunities for development.

In addition, five important agreements were inked during the visit. Ukraine is now part of the Digital Europe — an agreement to finance digitization and IT technology projects worth EUR 7.5 billion. We received an additional EUR 500 million for housing for internally displaced persons and support for small farms. Another EUR 122 million for various grants for the State and civil society. Agreements on cooperation in the customs and tax spheres were also signed, which will allow us to fully bring operation of these bodies in compliance with the best European standards.

The issue of rapid reconstruction of Ukraine was also given an important place in the negotiations with partners. Yet this year, we need EUR 3.2 billion euros for critical infrastructure reconstruction projects, and we are talking with our partners about an additional program of corresponding financing. With Chancellor Scholz, we have finally agreed to hold a high-level Ukraine Recovery Conference in Germany in October.

To wind up, it is worth noting another important point that all our partners talked about during the meetings. Both Germany and the entire European Union express readiness to support us in this war as long as it is necessary for our victory. The kremlin believes that prolonging the war will deprive Ukraine of the support of its allies, but this will not happen. Europeans understand that the war is taking place on the territory of Ukraine, but it is a war for the freedom and dignity of the whole of Europe. We are fighting for democratic European values, so victory will definitely be ours.

Glory to Ukraine!