Address of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the representatives of the Group of Seven 24.03.2022

Speaker 1

Our meeting will now begin with a speech by President Zelenskyy.

Speaker 2

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the world's leading democracies represented by you. First of all, I want to thank Chancellor Scholz and the German presidency for the opportunity to address you today at this emergency summit. Today marks exactly one month since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the RF.

Russia was once in this format along with the leading democracies. At that time, the Group of Seven was the Group of Eight, and there were many hopes for its participation, for dialogue with Russia. I want to emphasize that most of those hopes that grew alongside the Group of Seven were given to Russia as an advance, and Russia has yet to work for this advance. But this and other similar advances created the impression in the leadership of Russia that everything would go unnoticed.

Over the past years, the Russian state has managed to create such a number of crises and such instability that it has now become the main problem for the whole world, a problem that is only growing. And we do not even guess how many more such emergency summits will have to be held before the problems created by Russia are solved.

Europe experiences war every day, which is filled with war crimes by the Russian troops. This morning, I received information that Russian troops used phosphorus bombs against civilians in Ukraine. There is a quite real threat of the large-scale use of chemical weapons by Russia on the territory of Ukraine.

We are trying to determine the exact number of deported Ukrainians, people whom Russia forcibly removes to its territory daily, deprives them of documents—everything is taken, including means of communication—and distributes them across its regions. And then, it even tries to mobilize them into its army. Children are being kidnapped illegally, and according to our data, already more than 2,000.

Ukrainian cities—Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Okhtyrka, and other cities—look as if a global catastrophe has occurred, so badly destroyed are they. The roads from these cities, along which people were escaping, resemble a film set of a post-apocalyptic movie, with hundreds of burned and shot-up cars.

But it is truly so. A global catastrophe has occurred. Russia destroyed the global security architecture and dealt a powerful blow to international law.

But this is only the beginning. A global food crisis may follow this war. The longer there is no peace on Ukrainian land, the less food from Ukraine the world market will receive. Consequently, many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe may even face extraordinary problems with access to basic products and food prices. This will definitely end in political destabilization. Perhaps this is also the goal of the Russian leadership. I do not know.

We must all act immediately. Immediately stop the Russian troops, remove them from the territory of Ukraine. Peace is needed immediately, before the world faces an even greater level of problems. It is better now to strengthen sanctions against Russia as much as is necessary to stop its war machine than later to deal with the consequences of a food, political security, and global crisis.

Unprecedented challenges. If so, a full embargo on trade with Russia is needed. Russia must be deprived of the ability to use GPS in the war. This is very important so that this system does not help Russian missiles and bombs destroy peaceful cities.

Russian banks and, most importantly, the Central Bank of Russia must face a complete block from the global financial system. War criminals must be left entirely without money, and their frozen assets should be turned, among other things, into reparations for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

It is better now to give Ukraine the weapon support we actually need than later to search for weapons for other countries. And we understand this—Georgia, Moldova, the Baltic states, Poland, the countries of Central Asia. The faster this happens exactly as we ask, the faster there will be peace in Eastern Europe. This is in our interests, this is in your interests, this is in the interests of all democracies.

Because democracy must be able to protect itself, freedom must be armed, life must defeat death. And I emphasize this: no advances to such a Russian state; that never again any steps in its direction or in the direction of any other violator of international law should take place only after their steps toward peace, toward generally recognized rules, and on the basis of a system of preventive deterrence.

I am grateful to you for this unprecedented unity, for the fact that you decisively support peace for our country, for our people. I am grateful to those of you who try one hundred percent to stop this war. I believe we can do it. We will be able to make your group not just a Great Seven, but a Great Seven of peacemakers.

What is needed for this? Ukraine is very specific in response to this question. First, to strengthen sanctions against Russian aggression weekly until it stops and returns peace to us. Second, to take part in the creation of a new security guarantee system for Ukraine, for our region—real guarantees, effective ones, such as can stop any aggressor within 24 hours. We proposed to create such an association, U-24. This is what the world truly needs. Not only to preventively stop war or hostilities that have already begun, but also to provide assistance to states suffering from natural disasters, those in need of support during a pandemic, those facing migration or food crises. The world needs new effective alliances, new efficient guarantees. This is capable of supporting developing democracies. This is capable of supporting economies in countries where such institutions do not yet exist.

And third, concerning our state and Eastern Europe directly. We must together, as soon as possible after the war, restore our state, rebuild cities, restore economic life, bring people back. I propose your participation in such a project, a reconstruction project. I am sure that this will be in our common interests.

But first, armament for Ukraine, first, strengthen sanctions against Russia weekly. That is, peace first. We have the strength to do this. You have the strength to do this. So let there be peace.

I am grateful to everyone who supports us. Thank you. Glory to Ukraine!

Speaker 1

Please stay strong, and all the best to you. Stay strong.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much.