Day 29 of the war. Address of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Ukrainians

Free peoples of our free country, it is already night, but we are working; the country must move towards peace, move forward with every day of our defense. We are bringing closer the peace we so desperately need, bringing victory closer, because in this war, it is simply impossible without victory. And that is how it will be. And one cannot stop even for a minute, because every minute is about our fate, about our future, about whether we shall live. The third day — it is already a month. If Russia had known that such things awaited them here, I am sure they would definitely have feared coming here.

During this month, we have held all the main directions of the Russian strikes, the world has applied devastating sanctions, we continue to work, negotiating more new ones. Today I made several important appeals to the participants of the NATO summit, the G7 summit, the European Union leaders' summit, and the parliament of Sweden.

All this is for the sake of support for our state; we need it for our defense. I spoke with the President of Lithuania, Mr. Nausėda, the Prime Minister of Israel Bennett, and the Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson. All this is so that Russia understands one thing – peace must be sought. Russia also needs to seek peace. I informed the President of Egypt about the current situation, and also, today, I signed several very important decrees.

On granting the title of Hero of Ukraine to seven members of the National Guard, of whom, unfortunately, five are posthumously. Also on awarding State Awards to 48 members of the National Guard of Ukraine and 119 members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On awarding State Awards to 14 heads of local communities, local authorities. On awarding State Awards to 31 medical workers and on granting the honorary distinction of Hero City of Ukraine.

To four more cities – Bucha, Irpin, Okhtyrka, Mykolaiv. You know, signing these decrees, I felt that in reality, it would be worth awarding and granting the title of Hero to millions and millions of our people. Specifically to you, all Ukrainians, men and women, who are doing everything they can for our victory, for peace, wherever they are, wherever you are. And I am grateful to each and every one of you, each and every one, for this month of great struggle; of course to our Armed Forces, of course to the National Guard, to our border guards, doctors, rescuers, territorial defense forces, intelligence officers, employees of special services, many, many people, representatives of other professions, who protect our lives, who protect our free Ukraine.

Glory to our heroes, glory to our people, glory to us all. Glory to Ukraine!