Press conference of Volodymyr Zelenskyy for representatives of Ukrainian and international media.

Speaker 1

you.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon, dear journalists, and thank you for this opportunity to have a conversation. I wish good health to all of you. It's not the high time to congratulate everyone with the feast still. Today is the Easter, and even the aggression of the Russian Federation won't prevent us from canceling this holiday. That's why I would like to wish all of you and all of the citizens of Ukraine, I would like to wish peace and victory, and we will have a victory. And today we have a meeting in a very interesting format. The press service reported that there are a lot of requests, hundreds and thousands of requests for interviews, and unfortunately, I won't be able to find the time to talk to every one of you separately, but maybe after the victory, we'll have more time for interviews, for conversations. Now the time is very precious for our country, so I'm ready to have this press conference, so yours the questions and ours the answers. So let's start. So colleagues, please raise your tables. Luke, Gordian, please.

Speaker 4

But wait for the microphone, please, everybody, wait for the microphone.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. We've recently seen rather strange photos from Moscow of Russia's President Vladimir Putin holding the table. Do you, can you explain why President Putin invaded Ukraine? Is he ill? Is he mad? Or is there some other reason?

Speaker 1

Well,

Speaker 2

it's hard to assess and evaluate every step made by the President of Russia. It's hard for me to tell why is he grasping the table or the armchair for the past years. I don't think this is anyhow related to making a decision on committing an aggression against Russia to hold this encroaching aggression against Ukraine, which is happening day after day and year after year end, because we know that this war has been in progress for over eight years, and we don't want to get used to this encroaching invasion, but unfortunately this is happening. And thinking on the impact, I think it is an impact on Ukraine, and Russian Federation has always wanted to have something like this happening, and frankly speaking, we are repelling this sort of impact or attempt of influencing our country, and we are succeeding, and since the very beginning of our independence, it was only we, only the people of Ukraine, who dreamed of this independence, for us it was important, for the civilized world it was important, and we can see that based on the support that we are receiving from the friendly nations, still the Russian Federation, both at the level of authorities and the level of people, because of the informational policy, and a lot of the society in Russia do not consider Ukraine as an independent country,

Speaker 1

well,

Speaker 2

they don't think that our people have the right to, well, to an independence, don't have the right to live, and we are struggling for this right to live, and therefore we are struggling for independence, for our freedom. This is the war for the freedom of Ukraine. The Channel Inter, that's the fifth row, please, the microphone. President, you've insisted on having a meeting with President Putin. Do you still insist on a personal meeting with him? Do you think this meeting may stop the war? How? And why Russia is not agreeing to have this meeting? What's your suggestion? Now, the security component, in the frames of the information that were in terms of killing you, that has to be a third country? I'm sorry, what is this? That meeting has to be on the territory of a neutral country. Do you understand the risks that you are facing

Speaker 1

personally?

Speaker 2

Well, thank you

Speaker 1

for this

Speaker 2

question, or indeed

Speaker 1

questions.

Speaker 2

Speaking on the Russian Federation and the negotiations with Russia, from the very beginning I have insisted on the talks with the leader of the Russian Federation, as I believe that any format of meeting through mediators with Russia or passing this or that information to the leader of the Russian Federation through the friendly nations, I think this will not produce the desired effect. I believe this war could only be stopped by the person who started this war. Can you hear us? That's the last train, hopefully not the last train, just the final one for today, so let's listen to the subway. That's partially an answer to this question with regards to attempts of killing me. I'm not afraid, but my security is afraid of those attempts, my family is afraid of those attempts of killing me.

Speaker 1

talking

Speaker 2

about this meeting with the President Putin, I want the war to be stopped, and there is a diplomatic path, there is a military path, and any person in sound mind would always opt for a diplomatic path, because this person would know that even if it's difficult, but still, the diplomatic path would allow to save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives, and this is not something that I would be willing to have, and any leader, despite his own willingness or desires, has no right to take a decision to not go, to not proceed with the diplomatic path. He should proceed with the diplomatic path, and we will constantly make steps with regards to the diplomatic settlement of the military conflict and the war with Russian Federation and our partners, both European partners and the United States and Canada. Now, all of them, they can see that whatever Russia is saying over those past years, claiming that it's Ukraine that is not willing to see the

Speaker 1

negotiation table.

Speaker 2

Now, everyone can see that there's this accumulating affect. Now, everyone can see that

Speaker 1

they should trust Ukraine, and there is absolutely no trust to Russia, and Russia and the trust, they are absolutely difficult words, because whenever they're

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talking about a

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that's the

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security

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issues. I don't remember the second part of the question. I'm not afraid of

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having a meeting with President Putin if

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we're talking about

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the attempts to kill me. Let's just wait

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for a second.

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I don't have a right to be afraid

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of,

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our

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people have

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proved

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that

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they're afraid of nothing.

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Well, they are afraid

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of their

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children, but still they stop the Russian tanks with their bare hands, just the same as our armed forces and our national guard personnel. There's a lot of

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But anyway, now you're sure that you are in safety. So the normal leader, ordinary leader

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has

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no right to be afraid when the question has to do with our country, with our independence. Now, CGTN, if I pronounced that correctly, the fourth row, please.

Speaker 7

CGTN. So, Mr. President, you've reiterated your readiness for peace talks with Russia. We know that UN Secretary General Antonio Gloris is visiting Moscow and Kiev. We also noticed some reports talking about the U.S. and its allies have centered on the weapons, how to ship the weapons to your country. But at the same time, we know that the Moscow thinks that your continuous appeal for military support from NATO countries would not be helpful for the negotiations. Can you comment on that?

Speaker 2

I'm sorry. Can you please repeat the beginning of your question?

Speaker 1

From the very beginning, if you can.

Speaker 7

Sure, of course. I think you are talking about your readiness for peace talks with Russia. We know that UN Secretary General is coming to Moscow and Kiev to promote the ceasefire or peace. At the same time, we know some reports talking about the U.S. and its allies have centered on weapons, how to ship the weapons to your country. And Moscow thinks that your continuous appeal for military support from NATO countries is adding fuel to the fire and can be seen as a deterrent to negotiations. Can you comment on this? Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Thank you for this question. First of all, we'll be welcoming the Secretary General who will arrive to Kiev. We'll have negotiations. I believe that we have made a lot of steps to change even his position, to have his position being reinforced with regards to the support to Ukraine. I had a number of personal meetings with him and I told him that you can't have a balance in between of your relations with Ukraine and Russia. We expect 100 percent support from the Secretary

Speaker 1

General of UN because

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we are the righteous. It is on our territory that the war is coming. If the Secretary General of the UN will have a

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time,

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would definitely need to visit some of these

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settlements where the tortures were happening, where our people were being killed. And only then the Secretary General would need to find the time

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to be spent in

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Moscow. I believe that

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it's

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more important

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to understand what is happening in Ukraine in order to have all the

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arguments while having conversations in Moscow. Because if you simply arrive to Kiev just to talk, this is not enough. I believe that first and foremost one would need to understand what is happening in Kiev. That's why many leaders, both the Chancellor of Austria, I always suggested them whenever they would be going to Moscow, they would need to first come to Kiev

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if

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that's not about political tourism, if that's about the support, the true support. And maybe

Speaker 4

if

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you would

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be able to see that,

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then his points

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with regards

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to Russia and Ukraine would be more reinforced. Speaking about the supply of weapons to Ukraine, we are definitely not interested in these thoughts of Russian Federation. In the beginning of the war, they also supplied this. You remember in the beginning of their aggression, they were on the retreat and they left a lot of tanks behind themselves. So I'm grateful

Speaker 4

for them today.

Speaker 2

somewhere in the end, in the final rows, just a couple of days on the 27th of April, Russia has announced their plans on conducting a referendum in Kherson. And based on the experience of 2014, how it all happened in Donbas, it doesn't matter how many people will come, they will draw any result they want. What the Ukraine would do if this pseudo-referendum will be conducted, if they will proclaim the establishment of the Kherson People's Republic, what this would mean for our negotiations? Because the people in Kherson, they are pro-Ukrainian and they don't understand what Ukraine will do after this situation. Thank you for this question.

Speaker 1

If our

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people

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in Mariupol will be killed,

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there will

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be a pseudo-referendum

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on the

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establishment of a new pseudo-referendum, people's republic, Ukraine will not continue

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negotiating. But our citizens located on the temporarily

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occupied territories of the Kherson region, but

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in

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many other settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region and in the east of Ukraine, they have to know and they should not assist the

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occupying forces. And I

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know

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because of the

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intelligence and because of ordinary

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people who live there, I can't say that they have pro-Ukrainian position, they have a Ukrainian position. These are the Ukrainians who are passing the facts, they are gathering

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these or that

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data. And I believe this is, this would definitely

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not facilitate the diplomatic settlement of this conflict. This would definitely prevent this war from stopping in a diplomatic way. This is definitely the wrong step made by the Russians. This means that everything that was before that, all those

Speaker 1

meetings of the diplomatic groups

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or teams is just a fiction.

Speaker 4

And this is just a theater with very bad actors.

Speaker 2

Okay, now, Imedi from Georgia. If you want if I pronounce that correctly from the fourth row,

Speaker 8

Mr. President, as a citizen of Georgia and as a journalist, of course, I want to thank you because we Georgians believe that your struggle is our struggle and your victory will be the most valuable for our region to be the democracy. Now I want to ask you, also here, our soldiers died in the land of Ukraine for our democracy. How you see, what is your view of this thinking, our perspective in European Union, how you see friendship of Georgia, and also Georgian people are very worried about some details. When will it be possible to return ambassador of Ukraine in Georgia because mostly who really want not to be a friend is Russia, you know. Thank you, Imedi. Thank

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you

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for the question. Well, from a friendly Georgia,

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I believe that one

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of the closest are the people of Georgia to the people of Ukraine. That's historically, that's from the

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very first

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revolution that we saw the

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great support from the Georgian people.

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And even now,

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when we

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didn't

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understand,

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and frankly speaking,

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and I believe

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that I can

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be talking frankly to

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the Georgians because we are truly

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brothering

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people, brother nations, and I truly don't understand the positions of the leaders of your country. I do not understand this position. It was

Speaker 1

something that

Speaker 2

felt very painful. And what they are doing is not worth it. I mean, not imposing these sanctions. These are

Speaker 1

just minor issues.

Speaker 2

Despite the

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kilometers,

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the distance in

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between us,

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we

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are close neighbors.

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are closer than with Russia. And we don't want to have any conflicts with Georgia. And I'm sure and confident that there will never be a conflict in between our nations. And when Georgian people went on their streets, when the whole people, the police went on their streets, when I called, when your people called for the response,

Speaker 1

and some of your people gave their lives, and they

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provided support. There were a lot of vulnerabilities over the past years, beginning with the revolution and the

Speaker 1

beginning of war in 2014. But I cannot understand the behavior. I'm not a

Speaker 2

teacher and your leaders are not peoples. They are adult people. And I don't understand what is the reason.

Speaker 1

Not implementing the

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sanctions.

Speaker 1

They've heard messages like

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that.

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We have to

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protect

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our

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economy.

Speaker 1

What economy?

Speaker 2

They've taken part of the territory of Georgia. They have reached almost the poorest of Tbilisi. What economy are you talking about?

Speaker 9

So I do think. But I'm really sure. I'm sure. Yeah, please. Exactly.

Speaker 8

We speak very loudly in political fields, in everywhere, in NATO, in European Union also, and every group. My question is about the ambassador in Georgia and also how you see our perspective in European Union together.

Speaker 1

You must see your own perspective in the

Speaker 9

European

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Union. You must see it,

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observe it.

Speaker 1

I know that people

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want, they do want.

Speaker 1

But

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this is not the

Speaker 9

I'm pretty sure that you will be there in the European Union, a part of the family or in the NATO where you want to. It's your decision. It's up to you. And Ukraine will always respect your choice. Always. I can tell it clearly from behalf of all of us.

Speaker 9

your answers are inside your country. That's how it seems to me. Speaking about the returning of the ambassador, well…

Speaker 1

We will definitely bring the

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ambassador back to friendly Georgia. When

Speaker 1

we

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feel the support provided to Ukraine by the leaders of your government. By your leaders. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you. We

Speaker 9

have CNN. Fifth row, I guess. The left side.

Speaker 10

Mr. President, Phil Black from CNN. Could you please give us your assessment of Russia's plans but also its capabilities for its operations in the east, in the Donbass? Will Russia or perhaps more importantly, can Russia launch a large scale push to break through your defensive lines or is this looming as a slower, longer, grinding military operation? And secondly, do you believe your allies are finally getting the message? Are they sending you the heavy weapons you need? Thank you.

Speaker 9

Thank you. Thank you so much. First of all,

Speaker 1

I'd

Speaker 9

like to give you an example of Kiev and Kiev region. Let's use it as an example. Which had been occupied and they almost reached Kiev, the very brink of Kiev.

Speaker 8

We

Speaker 9

had so many battles close to Kiev but we deoccupied the territory. We freed the territory. My position, my personal position,

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human position

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and

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position of a president. Everything that they will try

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to break

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and if

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they, God forbid, occupy

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something, we'll bring it back. It will be not a

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matter

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of 10 years or 20

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years,

Speaker 1

not a war like we have it starting from 2014. It will be a war that we have this war for eight years. Concerning

Speaker 9

the armament, if we have it, if we have enough of it, we will return it immediately. We will take our territories back immediately, the temporarily occupied ones. This is the war that we have right now in Ukraine. This is the situation in the eastern regions, in Kharkiv region. Every

Speaker 1

day

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we can

Speaker 1

unfortunately give due to the capacity of certain Russian groups, we can give a piece of territory. But during the

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night time,

Speaker 1

on the next day, we bring it back,

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small

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towns, small villages and we move forward.

Speaker 9

We don't move forward in the places where we

Speaker 1

can't, where we

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simply have

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no

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support that we talk about. We've been talking

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so long about this support and

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we

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talk about this support in

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public for quite a long time. We present it everywhere. With non-public channels, just to be frank, we also use the non-public channels. I'm speaking about the change regarding our Western partners. We can see the shift, especially I can see the change in the speed

Speaker 1

of

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response, especially the US response. And if this speed

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will grow,

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just like they promised us, if they do it like they promised, if their steps will coincide

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the words like

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any

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decent

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person should,

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then yes.

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And

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for any

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leader, that's important to be a decent

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person. And then we will do

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it

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faster. We will free our

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territories.

Speaker 1

In the Western regions, at

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any moment, something may

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happen like you mentioned. For example,

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in Mariupol

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right now,

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at this specific moment, at

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this second, they're on

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the siege. It's one of the hardest

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days today. The preparation, they

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shoot from the sea.

Speaker 1

We

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have the shell fire on the

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land,

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everywhere, tanks, artillery systems, everything they can use, jets. I got the last message, like they want to prepare such, an hour ago I got the last message from the guys who stay there. I know what they are planning to do. When we will be able to go there, we will be there. But so far,

Speaker 1

we offer again, like any civilized person should, we

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offer the humanitarian solution,

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purely humanitarian solution for this

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issue.

Speaker 1

Exchange, we offer to exchange civilians in Mariupol, take them back,

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to exchange for injured

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people, for wounded. We

Speaker 9

don't offer the deceased. Unfortunately, we have people who died there. But they left their people. They left Russians there. But we want to bring our killed people out of there. We don't want to leave our people. And of course, exchange of military, protecting Mariupol. We are ready for it as well.

Speaker 1

We offered that. And why, for example,

Speaker 9

why I had this very sharp response provided at the press conference,

Speaker 1

like the Russia

Speaker 9

told something like the ball is on your side, or something like this. This is not true. Again, I want to underline.

Speaker 1

We offered any

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kind

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of format of exchange to get our people out

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of

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there. Staying in this hell,

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this monstrous situation is

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such a bloody, in

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a

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sea of blood. And when the President of the Russian Federation recently, I was shown his message, like he gives the conference,

Speaker 1

that

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the only fortress left, but we will not attack.

Speaker 1

And after this in two

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hours, an air raid.

Speaker 1

So the question is, it's about pragmatic dialogue. It's

Speaker 9

not about trust. It's pragmatic dialogue. Thank you. Thank

Speaker 1

you.

Speaker 9

The third row,

Speaker 9

I'm presenting Ukraine. So Mr. President, I have two questions. First is more precise. Well, concerning the aggressor's

Speaker 1

requirements and

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demands. So up to

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now,

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this moment, what are their key requests? What do they want again? Like, okay, recognizing these fake entities, whatever. Maybe they already refused from something

Speaker 1

during this, during the

Speaker 9

hostilities because they failed humanitarian issues or language, what they call denazification. I don't know. That is actually. What is the pool of requests and requirements? The second is more general question. Regardless of how the events take place, like, let's say, within the nearest days or weeks, you as a president, how do you think? Do Ukrainian, are Ukrainian people ready to live in years or decades

Speaker 1

in this, in

Speaker 9

this state like the Israeli people live? A militarist country where children have their algebra lesson, then they study how to handle the rifles or where

Speaker 11

everyone

Speaker 9

have to actually take a couple of years of military service. Are Ukrainians ready to exist like

Speaker 10

this?

Speaker 9

As we have this threat from the Russian Federation. Sorry for that long question. I'll start from the second part. Thank you. So, look, this is not an issue of are you ready or not. I think all Ukrainians, especially all of those who are in the country, who are staying right now physically, are not saying, I'm not mentioning women and children. We have even some men who appear to be a little bit more feminine than they should have. So the majority of Ukrainians, our people, more than 90 percent, I'm so happy that we have such a state. I'm truly, I'm

Speaker 1

just, I'm flattered with it. They're not just ready or

Speaker 9

not ready. We have no

Speaker 1

other choice. We will be this state.

Speaker 9

We will become it. We already are becoming it. We have become it.

Speaker 1

I can tell you, we already

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are there. We are

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the state

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that you

Speaker 1

mentioned. We are the state. We have to know and we

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know that we

Speaker 1

have to defend our land and

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we will defend it.

Speaker 1

It doesn't mean that we

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will

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dive

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into hostilities.

Speaker 1

When

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we finally

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win, we will be the state

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with the

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best army, the most experienced one. People

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who are very well experienced in how to protect themselves will be one of the strongest nations in Europe. Again, not because we are so special or unique, but I do think that we are special. But this is subjective opinion. Again, this is my personal opinion. But because we have no other choice. This is the reality we wake up in. This is the reality that we live in. We have the neighbor. That's it. So this is the second part. The first part. Regarding the requests and demands from the Russian Federation.

Speaker 1

Well, first, as we know from the media and thanks, let's say, to other institutions, we got some ultimatums. Some very sharp requests. Not about negotiations. But

Speaker 9

pure demands. They say Ukraine has to or is obliged to. It's not about dialogue. So first it was like a very, very

Speaker 1

clear demand and order.

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And

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then

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the text started changing. The wording was

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changed.

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And

Speaker 1

then

Speaker 9

they saw that we are united. The state is united. We demonstrated our unity from the very first days of war. They saw it. They observed it. And in a couple of days we saw that

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this ultimate

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request,

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like they just, we saw this in their

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messages from Russian Federation.

Speaker 1

Some pieces

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vanished

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out of there.

Speaker 9

Then the negotiations of the subgroups started.

Speaker 1

And then they reached,

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we all know what they managed to reach.

Speaker 1

So there was a note prepared in

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Turkey. And as

Speaker 1

far as I know, Russian

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Federation

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first

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positively responded to

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that note, to that document. And then inside the country it

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was

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heavily criticized because it

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appeared to

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be that not only the government,

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well, the

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government

Speaker 9

actually brainwashed their people. The government didn't expect to get that kind of critique, you know, because they have such a hatred to Ukraine, not just within the government, not just the leaders, but they nurtured their people to hate us. They made their people hating us thanks to controlled, fully controlled by Kremlin, media fully controlled by Kremlin. And they were surprised so much later of how strong the hatred is to Ukrainians inside the Russian Federation. And I know that they provided certain messages like the answers to our notes, to our documents, to

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our requests. And

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with these

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answers, our subgroups,

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they

Speaker 1

do work with it.

Speaker 9

Just to give a brief answer to your

Speaker 1

question, I do think that the most urgent issue is of course the guarantee of security and neutrality. The Donbass destiny and Crimea, of course.

Speaker 9

No more issues are there. No more issues exist. So everything else is purely just, you

Speaker 4

know,

Speaker 9

it's just purely political. Thank you. IBC News in like the very end next to the central aisle, please.

Speaker 12

Thank you for taking my question. My name is Marcus Moore. I'm with ABC News out of the United States. And you mentioned your openness to meeting with Vladimir Putin. If you could speak to him right now, what would you tell him? And my second question, in reference to the military aid that you're getting from the United States, are you pleased with the equipment that you are getting, not only for the short term, but for the long term, if this conflict drags on? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Again, I want

Speaker 9

to

Speaker 1

tell how grateful we are.

Speaker 9

profound gratitude.

Speaker 1

We are grateful for the support provided by two chambers and

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American chambers.

Speaker 1

We even get more than maybe… Well, we can't say no to anything we are provided. We speak about the best military support, and this is

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American

Speaker 1

support and British support. We have many other friends, European friends, but of course you recognize fully. I speak about the scope of this aid, and I'm fully grateful for it. Also, USA

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are the leaders.

Speaker 1

This is the country who is the leader, and they

Speaker 9

set the tone.

Speaker 1

They actually set the tone for any negotiation, and they set the tone for this dynamics of support, and they affect quite often if any European country can provide armament, they actually can change the situation. This is a very important strategic partner, and I do believe in this strategic partnership, but I really want everything to go faster, to move faster.

Speaker 9

Concerning the

Speaker 1

politics, yes,

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I do support

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us,

Speaker 1

personally, well, I will not reveal a big

Speaker 9

secret. I don't

Speaker 1

know if

Speaker 9

anybody knows, but tomorrow we are about to have some American people here. The Minister of Defense will be here, and the State Secretary of the United States of America, Mr. Blinken, I'll have a meeting with him, and they actually are about to arrive. So we'll

Speaker 1

expect…

Speaker 9

We are waiting for the security situation to allow Mr. Biden to come as well, just to support Ukrainian people. Tomorrow we will have this conversation, and we'll talk about that armament list that we need, about the equipment that we need, and the terms of provision.

Speaker 1

Again, I

Speaker 9

want to underline,

Speaker 1

as I think,

Speaker 9

the last week, signals, the messages

Speaker 1

from

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the

Speaker 1

last week,

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the terms, the

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amount, the scope. I speak about military

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equipment and armament

Speaker 1

from the

Speaker 9

United States.

Speaker 1

It's improving,

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and it has

Speaker 1

improved, and I'm so

Speaker 9

grateful for it, and this is

Speaker 1

something that

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we

Speaker 1

really expect

Speaker 9

to

Speaker 1

get, something that we

Speaker 9

We really

Speaker 1

want to

Speaker 9

have… Of course, we have wonderful soldiers, but we want to have this heavy armament and strong armament. Azerbaijan, New Journalist, please, the second row. Please take a microphone. So Azerbaijan, Baku TV, Agents Report. How would you evaluate the mediation of Turkey, the role of Turkey as a mediator in this process, in the negotiation process? And again, how do you evaluate the role of Azerbaijan in this situation, in this war, and before the war, your military always evaluated very highly the experience of our soldiers, of our military in the Karabakh war. So can they use actually this experience in the Russian-Ukrainian war? We do love Azerbaijan. Thank you. Let's just piece by piece, okay? You have so many questions, and I have a very small stomach, anyway.

Speaker 9

Let's just… How would you evaluate Turkey and Azerbaijan as mediators in the negotiation process? How do you evaluate Azerbaijan in this situation as a whole? Not negotiation, but I mean as a whole. The Russian-Ukrainian war and the negotiation process. And okay. That takes time. So before the war, your military highly appreciated the experience of Azerbaijani army during the second Karabakh war, and now your army actually… Does your army use our experience while fighting with Russia?

Speaker 9

okay. Let's just limit ourselves to three. Okay, the very last one. How do you evaluate the role of Bayraktar in this war as a military equipment? The Bayraktar's role.

Speaker 1

You

Speaker 9

have very interesting questions and very intriguing questions, I'd say.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Thank you so much for

Speaker 9

the questions. I'll do it like that.

Speaker 1

So how do I evaluate the mission of

Speaker 9

Turkey and Azerbaijan

Speaker 1

and their

Speaker 9

role in the negotiation process? Well,

Speaker 1

I'd

Speaker 9

be very frank. The dialogue

Speaker 1

with

Speaker 9

both

Speaker 1

presidents regarding the

Speaker 9

mediation. Well, I had these

Speaker 1

dialogues with

Speaker 9

both

Speaker 1

of them. I had several moments.

Speaker 9

We have very good relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan both in the negotiation process. I would separate this a little bit because Turkey, in Turkey right now, well, we have these diplomatic missions taking place of our subgroups. I mean, Turkey shows and

Speaker 1

demonstrates that

Speaker 9

this country wants to be a leader

Speaker 1

among

Speaker 9

the countries

Speaker 1

stepping

Speaker 9

out with this mediation role.

Speaker 1

Turkey openly

Speaker 9

expresses its statement, gives a statement that it wants

Speaker 1

to

Speaker 9

be among

Speaker 1

the

Speaker 9

guarantors. We say

Speaker 1

it, yeah, the guarantors. The security guarantors. And I

Speaker 9

haven't

Speaker 1

received that message from

Speaker 9

Azerbaijan

Speaker 1

yet, but

Speaker 9

President Aliyev always supported Ukraine. I know it. And he supports us. We have humanitarian aid, medical support. And I think that

Speaker 1

it's, okay,

Speaker 9

it's hard for me to use Russian. So from

Speaker 1

this,

Speaker 9

yeah,

Speaker 1

when we speak about weapons, I think

Speaker 9

that for Azerbaijan today

Speaker 1

it's really hard

Speaker 9

when it comes to provision

Speaker 1

of

Speaker 9

weapons. It's hard to support Ukraine. It's pretty clear. We can understand this because you have Nagorno-Karabakh. You have this issue. It's still there. It's a very painful historical issue. I understand this. And I can tell

Speaker 1

you

Speaker 9

that this is one of not so many countries, I mean, Azerbaijan. We understand you. We actually understand what you're coming through. And we know what your experience is. And this neutrality balance, we don't understand it.

Speaker 1

understand. Well, I

Speaker 9

know why. Because right now the war may just explode and break out. I know. But we expect to get more. Someday we will stop understanding because we are coming through very complicated times. Every day, yes, every day people are dying. So you have to understand this. But we have very good relations.

Speaker 2

Now the role of the Bayraktar UAVs. Bayraktar is our drones.

Speaker 1

And as

Speaker 2

you know,

Speaker 1

we

Speaker 2

have this joint production. And we already have some of the drones that were jointly produced. We're supplying the engines for the drones. And there's a lot of them. We are using these UAVs. But with all due respect to Bayraktar and any other military equipment,

Speaker 1

I

Speaker 2

need to honestly say that this is a different war. And I'll answer another question of yours about the experience. That's another war. That's a different one. And all the experts say that this is an incomparable war. It could not be compared to any single war in the 21st century. It couldn't be compared with the wars of the 1990s. It was nothing like that. These are the weapons or the drones. They can assist. But they have no impact on the final result because the history of missiles, artillery, and air defense. This is what plays a crucial role. And not a single war that was waged by Russia on the territory of other independent countries. There was not the level of destruction that it caused in Ukraine. They've used so many heavy armament and equipment. And there was no tortures. There

Speaker 1

was no

Speaker 2

attempts of great pain that we made. That was not something that happened on the territory of Ukraine. And God hope it will not happen on the territory of other countries.

Speaker 1

it

Speaker 2

happened so that it is for Ukraine to stop all this. And that is why your countries would need to help us more. Remember, there's this saying, when they will finish with the Ukrainians, if they will finish with the Ukrainians, they will pick up someone

Speaker 4

else. One

Speaker 2

plus one, the fifth row, please. Volodymyr Oleksandrovich, after this small break, I have to go back to the very important question. I'm sure that it's very painful to hear that the situation around the city of Mariupol. We've all seen the video from the basements of Azov Steel, where the children have stayed underground for 55 days. They are running out of food, as the authorities considering a way of a military de-blocking of the city. Is there any deadline? Because the people located in the Azov Steel, they're running out of weapons, ammunition, and food. So as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the country, what would you be able to

Speaker 1

respond?

Speaker 2

Look,

Speaker 1

I'm

Speaker 2

not ready

Speaker 1

to

Speaker 2

tell you

Speaker 1

everything that I'm talking

Speaker 2

to them

Speaker 1

as the President as the Commander-in-Chief. And we have a

Speaker 2

direct contact

Speaker 1

with the people on the ground. And I can tell you, these are our cities. These

Speaker 2

are our citizens. That's why we have all the right, all the moral right to use military efforts to de-block our cities. And we have high hope

Speaker 1

that we

Speaker 2

will be

Speaker 1

able to do that.

Speaker 2

Whether we are ready to do that now,

Speaker 1

no.

Speaker 2

Do not trust anyone about the military de-blocking of Mariupol. We're not preparing that at this moment.

Speaker 1

And

Speaker 2

those

Speaker 1

soldiers that are defending

Speaker 2

that part of the Mariupol city,

Speaker 1

the Azov

Speaker 2

Steel who

Speaker 1

are blocked,

Speaker 2

the leaders, the commanders, they clearly understand this. That's a reality. We can proceed. Sky News, please, of the fourth row.

Speaker 13

Deborah Haynes from Sky News. You said that you're willing to speak with Vladimir Putin if there's a chance to find a diplomatic path to peace. But given all that your country has been through, would you ultimately like to see Vladimir Putin before a war crimes tribunal? And given that you've got the US Defense Secretary coming into town on Sunday and the Secretary of State, and you've talked about the importance of weapons from the US and the UK coming quickly, can you, speaking frankly, set out the danger for Ukraine if your allies, like the UK, like the US, stop sending weapons so fast? Is there a chance that Russia will take land and seize and hold land in the east, in the south, and maybe even come back to Kiev?

Speaker 1

Speaking about the

Speaker 2

meeting with the President Putin, you said

Speaker 1

that you expressed willingness. It's not that I'm expressing the willingness. It's

Speaker 2

that I need

Speaker 1

to

Speaker 2

have this meeting should we are

Speaker 1

willing to

Speaker 2

have a diplomatic settlement. Speaking about this war crime tribunal, it's not that I'm willing.

Speaker 1

It's

Speaker 2

all of them will face war crime tribunal, all those who issued orders to murder children, women, everyone. I'm confident in that. I believe in that. We know how the international process is happening. We know how the International Criminal Court is having its sessions.

Speaker 1

It takes years,

Speaker 2

but we

Speaker 1

will wait. And if those like me will not face that, then our children will wait

Speaker 2

for that,

Speaker 1

will face it. That

Speaker 2

will

Speaker 1

be a final nail

Speaker 2

in the

Speaker 1

policy

Speaker 2

of that country. Speaking

Speaker 1

about the…

Speaker 2

Look, I'm not considering an option that our partners would not be providing us the weapons that they've promised about. This is not something that I'm considering.

Speaker 1

There is no alternative. We will not give them this opportunity. We don't have other chances but to liberate our territories because there is

Speaker 2

no other option.

Speaker 1

There would

Speaker 2

be no doubt. That's the alternative. And I do not consider such alternative.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Now, TVP, in the very end to the left.

Speaker 14

Good

Speaker 2

afternoon, dear President, and thank you for finding the time for

Speaker 14

us.

Speaker 2

I was asked by my friends from Poland to express all the best wishes from Poland. Everyone is supporting you from Poland. So, the question from my friends of Polish people, we heard a lot that you are in Warsaw, and Russians tried to persuade everyone that you are in Warsaw. Everyone was looking for you in Warsaw, but we are keeping to have this meeting in Kiev. So, question, would you like to come to Warsaw? Okay.

Speaker 1

Look,

Speaker 2

I kept receiving

Speaker 1

a lot of questions whether I would like to

Speaker 2

go

Speaker 1

somewhere.

Speaker 2

Like, I don't have a right. And honestly speaking, I don't want. And I highly respect Poland, your friends and I highly respect the President of Poland and to the people of Poland. You have welcomed,

Speaker 1

you have extended

Speaker 2

hospitality to over 2.5 million of Ukrainians. That's a special attention, that's a special attitude of helping

Speaker 1

the

Speaker 2

country in the time

Speaker 1

of difficulties.

Speaker 2

So, I would like to really extend the words of gratitude because they are truly a very friendly and safe neighbors in Ukraine, and I'm sure that this is for many years and for serious.

Speaker 1

Look, I've visited

Speaker 2

Poland many times. I've had meetings with the President Adjiduda. I'm always happy to visit Poland. I'm not feeling myself as if I'm at home in Poland. I'm sorry for that. I only feel myself at home

Speaker 9

when I'm

Speaker 2

in Ukraine. But there's something that makes me

Speaker 1

feel very willing to go to Poland.

Speaker 2

That's

Speaker 1

this friendly attitude of Polish people to Ukraine. So, I'm grateful for this

Speaker 2

support. That was not only the humanitarian support and since the relationship with the President of Poland, both from the point of weapons and he always supported us. Well, of course, I'm a person like that. I cannot just say words of gratitude. I have to say something more.

Speaker 15

there is one

Speaker 1

thing

Speaker 15

that

Speaker 1

still

Speaker 2

raises in the air. There's only done for us. That's not

Speaker 1

really. I'm sure that

Speaker 2

until the war is in progress, I simply don't have the right to go to Poland. Republic of India, that's in the center, please.

Speaker 16

India mentioned about the new world order. Mr. President, do you believe that the world order has changed? In the face of this kind of aggression, do you believe a new alliance of countries is needed?

Speaker 17

I just wanted to ask you, what is it that you as the President of this country is expecting from the Asian countries? And was there any point in time in the first phase of the war that you felt let down by the Western partners?

Speaker 16

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Well, thank

Speaker 2

you for

Speaker 1

this question.

Speaker 2

Now, speaking on

Speaker 1

the world order or the security infrastructure, I cannot have an impact on

Speaker 2

the alliance. We are not a member state of NATO, even though I believe that's a major mistake that NATO over all these years have not found the time and place to have Ukraine as

Speaker 1

a member state. And everyone can see that we would be able to reinforce their capabilities. And everyone can already see

Speaker 2

that

Speaker 1

that

Speaker 2

would have a highly probable impact on Russia for not having this war. And I talked about this with the Secretary General's name too, and I talked with the leaders of the major European countries. I'm not going to name all those countries. We've only started this frank conversation maybe somewhere

Speaker 1

later, but in NATO, in the alliance, and in the European

Speaker 2

Union. And I believe that this was a strategic mistake made by the alliance with regards to Ukraine.

Speaker 1

And nobody counted on our resilience and strength.

Speaker 2

Nobody believed that we would be able to defend for three days or more. Some leaders of the European countries were not willing to impose sanctions

Speaker 1

because

Speaker 2

they said there's no sense

Speaker 1

of imposing sanctions since

Speaker 2

they will be occupied in three days. So that was a mistake. That was a mistake at the level of attitude to

Speaker 1

this country. But

Speaker 2

through our unity, through our strength, through the repelment of Russian attacks, we've managed to change the attitude of the European countries, of the alliance, and many others. We've managed to change their attitude to us. And I want the Asian countries, I want them to change their attitude to Ukraine just to say

Speaker 1

whether

Speaker 2

I feel that

Speaker 1

they've changed it. No. Whether they've truly changed it. Well, the people of

Speaker 2

those countries have truly changed their attitude. They know us. And I feel that the leaders of those countries are

Speaker 1

close to the change of

Speaker 2

their position. And historically, they were very close to the Soviet Union. And that's why historically, after the disbandment of the Soviet Union, they remained close to the Russian Federation as the inheritance of the Soviet Union and the larger, largest country of the former Soviet Union. So they have this tight relationship. But Ukraine

Speaker 1

had

Speaker 2

them

Speaker 1

rethink that.

Speaker 1

that's a great

Speaker 2

achievement

Speaker 1

of

Speaker 2

our country.

Speaker 1

But it's

Speaker 2

already an achievement of their leaders

Speaker 1

as

Speaker 2

they're

Speaker 1

listening to

Speaker 2

us. And it's a very difficult task. Both

Speaker 1

the Asian culture and the African culture, they were close to

Speaker 2

the

Speaker 1

same. There

Speaker 2

is an end to

Speaker 1

many things.

Speaker 2

And that's a partial answer

Speaker 1

to

Speaker 2

your first question with

Speaker 1

regards to the global security infrastructure. Now, all the leaders

Speaker 2

of the

Speaker 1

countries in Asia and Africa,

Speaker 2

they can see that

Speaker 1

not a

Speaker 2

single country can

Speaker 1

be allowed to violate the global order. You cannot take the territory of other countries. You can impose your

Speaker 2

own

Speaker 1

rules on other countries. And on the other continents, this could not be allowed. Now, everyone is afraid of that.

Speaker 2

look at the challenge, look

Speaker 1

at the challenge

Speaker 2

to

Speaker 1

the African

Speaker 2

countries, to the Arab countries about this blocking of supply of grain, barley, corn

Speaker 1

from Ukraine. I mean, we were the leading exporter of those agricultural products. 20 million tons of grain, that's more than enough to support the Ukrainian market. And

Speaker 2

then there's 90 million

Speaker 1

of tons. This is something

Speaker 2

that has not been supplied to the other countries. And in some countries, there will be a deficit. In some countries, there will be a problem with the food supplies. Now, that's why everyone can see that the war in Ukraine, it's not about only about Ukraine, but because of blocking the food products from being exported. This is not only a war in Europe, but a war in other continents

Speaker 1

because of these steps, because of disrespect to all the living, this is a

Speaker 2

disrespect to the international law and legislation of these countries. Because of these societies, they make

Speaker 15

the leaders

Speaker 2

start to listen. I'm sure that Prime Minister Modi, and I had a meeting with him once, and we had several conversations with him on the environmental forum. I think I met him in Glasgow,

Speaker 1

and

Speaker 2

then we had a number of conversations over the phone, I think two conversations.

Speaker 1

And

Speaker 2

I truly feel that the people and the leaders, and I believe he is a true leader of the largest democratic country in the world. I believe that they can

Speaker 1

see that you need to fight for every step. You need

Speaker 2

to fight for the

Speaker 4

democracy.

Speaker 2

Now, Anadolu, in the very end, to the right. Thank you, Mr. President.

Speaker 10

What do

Speaker 4

you think?

Speaker 10

Would there

Speaker 2

be a chance to continue negotiations in Turkey?

Speaker 2

you're from Turkey. And you speak Russian.

Speaker 10

So

Speaker 2

is there a chance that you can continue negotiations in Turkey?

Speaker 9

Well, I think it's the question to another Vladimir, I mean Vladimir with another surname. So if he actually wishes, that Vladimir, if he wishes, everything depends on his

Speaker 1

wish.

Speaker 9

The meeting of our groups depends on his wish. Just meeting for the sake of meeting, we love Turkey, but it's war, and it's not about any kind of war. It's definitely not about visiting resorts, and we don't have that kind of mood.

Speaker 1

I'm sorry, you can

Speaker 9

see that even we

Speaker 1

have Easter

Speaker 9

today, but this is a big religious holiday,

Speaker 9

huge family

Speaker 1

holiday.

Speaker 9

It's a humane holiday. It's

Speaker 1

like a humanity

Speaker 9

holiday. Seven missiles.

Speaker 1

Seven.

Speaker 9

This is Easter time. Seven missiles we had today hitting Odessa, a big southern city, hitting Odessa. We hit two. We managed to hit two.

Speaker 1

What does it depend from? The air defense system. So seven missiles.

Speaker 9

Residential area. They hit the residential area. The multi-storeyed block of apartments. A missile hit it, just imagine it. Eight people right now, right at this specific moment.

Speaker 1

Eight people died.

Speaker 9

18 or 20 injured. A three-month newborn child died. Three-month child. Just try to grasp it. Three months old. When the war started,

Speaker 1

this child was a month old, and this

Speaker 9

child died.

Speaker 1

Just realize it, grasp it.

Speaker 9

Bastards. What I

Speaker 1

can say,

Speaker 9

these

Speaker 1

are just

Speaker 9

bloody bastards. I have no

Speaker 1

other words.

Speaker 9

I'm sorry, but bastards.

Speaker 1

Pure bastards.

Speaker 9

That's what they are.

Speaker 1

Monsters.

Speaker 9

We need

Speaker 1

to have these specific

Speaker 9

meetings. There's no satisfaction for us to stay there in the sun with these bastards. No. It's not pleasant. But we have to talk. We have to talk and finish the war. We

Speaker 1

have to talk till the very end of the

Speaker 9

war

Speaker 1

and grasp every chance,

Speaker 9

catch

Speaker 1

every chance that we have.

Speaker 9

I don't want any other three-month-old dying. It's horrifying. It's just something you can't imagine. And one of these days, they don't care. They don't

Speaker 1

think of it. What do they

Speaker 9

talk about? They talk about God. They talk about values, about their Russian world, Christian world. I

Speaker 1

don't know. It's

Speaker 9

purely medieval.

Speaker 1

It's just seven

Speaker 9

missiles for one city.

Speaker 1

They're favorite to Odessa. Russians say

Speaker 9

they

Speaker 1

love Odessa. They call Odessa

Speaker 9

mama, Odessa mother. They

Speaker 1

say,

Speaker 9

have wonderful cuisine in Odessa. We love to visit your city. They just want to have some food there. And that's it. Okay,

Speaker 4

let's move.

Speaker 9

I don't know how to spell it.

Speaker 15

Infobaya, I'm Roman Lehmann from

Speaker 4

Infobaya. Have you talked with Pope Francis and what do you think about his role in the conflict?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Mr. President.

Speaker 9

you. Thank you. We

Speaker 1

are grateful in

Speaker 9

general. We are grateful to Vatican.

Speaker 1

know,

Speaker 9

when

Speaker 1

Pope

Speaker 9

Francis

Speaker 1

actually

Speaker 9

prays and gives

Speaker 1

statements

Speaker 9

and everywhere

Speaker 1

he announces.

Speaker 9

Not

Speaker 1

just during the special days, during the holidays.

Speaker 9

He always

Speaker 1

condemns

Speaker 9

Russian

Speaker 1

aggression. He stands against it. And I'm so grateful for

Speaker 9

this

Speaker 1

position. I met

Speaker 9

him personally. We had

Speaker 1

these

Speaker 9

talks

Speaker 1

with him. And

Speaker 9

at that moment I had a chance to tell him one story. It was a story about one of our military officers. It was Markiv. He helped us and

Speaker 1

we brought our soldier

Speaker 9

back. We have to fight for each person. This is my rule, my personal rule of life. This is my motto. Fight for everyone. And I really wanted him to come from the very beginning. I just wanted him to

Speaker 1

support our people in eastern

Speaker 9

regions. I really

Speaker 1

wanted him

Speaker 9

to truly

Speaker 1

try to de-block the humanitarian corridors to Mariupol. That was

Speaker 9

the request

Speaker 1

that

Speaker 9

we gave him.

Speaker 1

We just wanted him to help us. And certain signals are there, but it's

Speaker 9

still early to say, but we expect to get

Speaker 1

him.

Speaker 9

We

Speaker 1

expect, of course, he has the mission. He

Speaker 9

has the

Speaker 1

mission from the Guard. He has a trust. He's

Speaker 9

entrusted

Speaker 1

by so many people. And I think it's important. I'm just sorry for using this word towards Vatican, but Ukraine has no choice.

Speaker 9

We

Speaker 1

have war. So we

Speaker 9

have to use.

Speaker 1

I'm sorry again for this word. I apologize, but we have to use. We have to use everything we can use. We have to use and involve any respectable

Speaker 9

and any high position person.

Speaker 1

We just need to get at least the ceasefire, the actual ceasefire, stable ceasefire, just in eastern and southern regions,

Speaker 9

just to ensure that exchange of people is taking place. So we refer to everyone, to Vatican as well.

Speaker 4

Thank

Speaker 9

you. Radar Channel in the right. Okay. So we have to use everything we can use. We have to use. So good evening, Mr. Zelensky. So we very carefully observe what the government is doing, and you announced that you created a national council, established a national council on Ukraine's refusal. What are the functions and authorities are there within this entity? Do you have any kind of list of people who will become the members of this national council? Representatives of government or the presidential office, who those

Speaker 1

will become?

Speaker 9

Thank you

Speaker 1

for the

Speaker 9

question. So it's a newly established

Speaker 1

entity, newly established

Speaker 9

institution,

Speaker 1

this council,

Speaker 9

and we

Speaker 1

have a list already of government

Speaker 9

representatives,

Speaker 1

also people from the office. Yes, I think this is

Speaker 9

not an

Speaker 1

exhaustive list. It will be extended. Why? Regarding the restoration and recovery of the country, the Ukrainian recovery program itself, it's established by us. I gave

Speaker 9

the details

Speaker 1

to European Union authorities about this program. Ursula von der Leyen supports this program

Speaker 9

completely.

Speaker 1

Charles Michel supports it as well. I'll just tell about relations and later on the content. Apart from that, we also initiated these

Speaker 9

bilateral

Speaker 1

negotiations on Ukrainian recovery with the leaders of other

Speaker 9

countries

Speaker 1

like the Great

Speaker 9

Britain,

Speaker 1

Sweden, Spain, a couple of others. For example, the Great Britain already confirmed the support provided for this program. Also, Sweden said yes

Speaker 9

to

Speaker 1

involve. This is a separate leadership. This is a program to ensure the leadership for a specific region. The Ukrainian budget is impossible to help any city or region recover. I

Speaker 9

just really want our partners to help us to restore the country. But it's not just an issue of funds. It's not just about money. It's

Speaker 1

about

Speaker 9

the patronage,

Speaker 1

taking

Speaker 9

care

Speaker 1

of any town or city. So what is patronage? What do I mean? What is this format about? It's not about just providing money, but providing experts. For example, we're interested in providing finance experts, architects, artists.

Speaker 9

There are so many professions and so many people who will come to Ukraine and help us to rebuild. Each country will get its own region. For

Speaker 1

example, with the Great

Speaker 9

Britain, we've actually with Mr. Johnson, he agreed actually to become a patron of the Kyiv

Speaker 1

region.

Speaker 9

Let's say in his country with the Sweden, we'll

Speaker 1

negotiate it. They would take the region to

Speaker 9

take care of, and step

Speaker 1

by step we will actually distribute it. So as my colleague said and

Speaker 9

colleagues from

Speaker 1

European Union, it's a very smart idea, I said. Why? Because we decided it would be better

Speaker 9

to

Speaker 1

say

Speaker 9

people decided and we just have to implement this. Ukraine is paving the way to European Union membership. And I do think that this way will do it faster if European Union countries

Speaker 1

will be

Speaker 9

united or joined under this umbrella, under this project. Each country will get an opportunity to help any region recover, and they will get the feeling of doing something truly important, helping the states rebuild. And this will be a contribution in Ukrainian victory as well, and this will be a great contribution

Speaker 1

to the victory of democracy

Speaker 9

at

Speaker 1

European continent.

Speaker 9

So far

Speaker 1

it looks

Speaker 9

like

Speaker 1

this, and some specific details about the funds, the plans, each region will present a plan, a

Speaker 9

plan

Speaker 1

for city

Speaker 9

and a plan for the region. And I

Speaker 1

do think

Speaker 9

that this

Speaker 1

project does

Speaker 9

have a great future.

Speaker 1

And

Speaker 9

I do think that all of us will definitely take part in that project. We will be the participants, we just need to find our own like words. It's not be like, I don't know how to call

Speaker 1

it.

Speaker 9

When you finish your work, how you can start helping your city. Okay, that's like the big cleaning, a big recovery.

Speaker 4

Okay.

Speaker 9

Antenna TV, if I do pronounce it, Greece, in the very, very rare. Okay, right, part of the row.

Speaker 18

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Christos Mosanidis from Antenna Television, Greece. The Russian commander, General Rastam, Mina Kayev, if I say that right, told the defense industry meeting that Russia was seeking to win control of swathes of territory extending to Moldova, Ukraine's southern neighbor. That would cut off Ukraine's actions to the Black Sea. What is your understanding? And secondly, I want to ask you, according to the Ukrainian foreign ministry, Russian forces have illegally removed thousands of Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk, or blast to Russia. Do you have any number to give us and more information about this? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank

Speaker 9

you so much. Unfortunately,

Speaker 1

figures are tragic. The statistics are horrible. I just want to apologize if these are not correct, and these can't be correct. They simply can't be correct. Because regarding

Speaker 9

people

Speaker 1

who

Speaker 9

unfortunately died,

Speaker 1

we

Speaker 9

also have people who were tortured in the basement, and people buried,

Speaker 1

and also

Speaker 9

we

Speaker 1

have people who were

Speaker 9

deported. Nobody will give you

Speaker 1

the exact figure. No one. What we have is we consider this to be approximately half

Speaker 9

a million of people were deported

Speaker 1

from

Speaker 9

various

Speaker 1

occupied parts

Speaker 9

of our

Speaker 1

country, to the territory

Speaker 9

of Russian Federation, or partially to occupied east, let's call it, occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Half a million. We consider this to be the figure. Concerning children, we

Speaker 1

don't have the number.

Speaker 9

I just

Speaker 1

remember one thing.

Speaker 9

Irina, how

Speaker 1

many? Like 5,000 approximately. 5,000. It's something that we had a week ago. I can't tell

Speaker 9

you

Speaker 1

the figure as

Speaker 9

of this day. I

Speaker 1

can't tell you if this is correct.

Speaker 9

Not

Speaker 1

fewer than 5,000. Why is it so tragic? Why my uncertainty is tragic? We can have more. We can

Speaker 9

have 5,000 or more, unfortunately.

Speaker 1

And the second part

Speaker 9

I just forgot.

Speaker 1

Yes, yes, they claimed. I remember, they claimed. Every day we have signals, we get signals from Russia,

Speaker 9

from

Speaker 1

Russian military leadership about capturing, about their wish to capture certain

Speaker 9

territory.

Speaker 1

We've heard about it for so many times.

Speaker 1

the risks, yes,

Speaker 9

these risks exist. Yes, they have the wish. Concerning the result, we will see. We will definitely try to protect our territory and we will protect

Speaker 4

it. If

Speaker 9

I pronounce it, Italy, first or second row.

Speaker 15

Thank you, Mr. President. Claudio Locatelli, Italy. So in two days in Italy will be the national day of resistance, remembering the historical resistance of partisans against the Nazi fascists. Some people think it's not comparable. Some others think it's actually your resistance, the Ukrainian people's resistance, is the nowadays resistance. Moreover, some people believe that in order to protect your citizen, you should give up. Despite the invasion of Russia. What is your answer to those people? Thank you.

Speaker 9

Thank you so much. Thank you. Ukrainians, don't give up.

Speaker 1

We won't. I

Speaker 9

think that we've already managed to prove it, not just with words or, you

Speaker 9

statements, whatever. We proved it with every single day, every single

Speaker 1

step,

Speaker 9

every

Speaker 1

pain we live,

Speaker 9

every fight we

Speaker 1

have against Russian Federation.

Speaker 9

This is pure,

Speaker 1

they are

Speaker 9

Nazi.

Speaker 1

They

Speaker 9

killed, they tortured, everything they did to children, you know it. Little children, toddlers, violence against children, children abuse,

Speaker 1

rapes,

Speaker 9

everything that happened.

Speaker 1

It's not just

Speaker 9

a manifestation.

Speaker 1

They are

Speaker 9

Nazi. And historically, their state,

Speaker 1

in

Speaker 9

the books in history,

Speaker 1

they will have

Speaker 9

the words

Speaker 1

that nobody invented.

Speaker 9

just,

Speaker 1

people just

Speaker 9

repeat it in Ukraine and in Europe. It's called racism

Speaker 1

or racists.

Speaker 9

Racists.

Speaker 1

Like they

Speaker 9

are racist, like

Speaker 1

Nazis,

Speaker 9

but

Speaker 1

Russists. This is a new word. This is a new word.

Speaker 9

Meaning these are Russian Nazi because

Speaker 1

they behave

Speaker 9

the same like Nazis

Speaker 1

did 80

Speaker 9

years

Speaker 1

ago.

Speaker 9

Within these 80 years, if you do analyze

Speaker 1

it, if you actually try

Speaker 9

to look at the continent, what

Speaker 1

was happening? Such barbaric behavior,

Speaker 9

it never

Speaker 1

happened. Racism, as we say, this will

Speaker 9

be there in

Speaker 1

history books,

Speaker 9

in

Speaker 1

Wikipedias

Speaker 9

or something. This will

Speaker 1

be

Speaker 9

carved in

Speaker 1

stone.

Speaker 9

This will be something that little children sitting in

Speaker 1

schools, they

Speaker 9

will learn

Speaker 1

and

Speaker 9

they will answer to their

Speaker 1

teachers what the racism is when

Speaker 9

it started,

Speaker 1

in what

Speaker 9

country and who won their freedom back and who fought against this horrible thing. Thank

Speaker 4

you. Al Jazeera English.

Speaker 9

Al Jazeera English. So the central aisle, please.

Speaker 19

President, from Al Jazeera English. We've been talking about the war in the East. Russia now is saying it wants to, it has territorial ambitions all the way to Transnistria. I know you're satisfied with the military aid you're getting, but this is a huge area of exploration for militarily speaking. Are you confident that you can tackle that, that you can avoid another Mariupol somewhere else where civilians and military are besieged? And are you able to also protect Odessa, which is so important for you, and for the world because of the global food supplies? And then my second question is about war crimes. I know you talk very strongly about all what's been happening and one can see that you're very affected of it. What kind of tribunal would you like? Would you like a special tribunal for Ukraine? Or would you like to go through the Hague? What kind of mechanism do you see there?

Speaker 1

I don't care how

Speaker 9

we will call the

Speaker 1

tribunal. I don't care about the

Speaker 9

name. I

Speaker 1

really want to get the result. And all of us, the

Speaker 9

citizens, we want to get the result. So

Speaker 1

it doesn't matter if it's Hague or

Speaker 9

is

Speaker 1

it Ukraine

Speaker 9

or

Speaker 1

if this

Speaker 9

is like

Speaker 1

any other process.

Speaker 9

Frankly,

Speaker 1

it's not the name.

Speaker 9

It's just about the years and people.

Speaker 9

many

Speaker 1

people will get, how

Speaker 9

many of these people will get a specific number of years of imprisonment? That's what we care about. It's about the second question. Frankly, our prosecutors, our prosecutor

Speaker 1

general's office, they

Speaker 9

work with our European

Speaker 1

partners. They have very

Speaker 9

tight cooperation. They have investigative groups, joint groups, and we have some joint processes. I do think there will be an international tribunal. I consider, we consider that the result will be there.

Speaker 1

The process

Speaker 9

is ongoing.

Speaker 1

I can see a huge, huge

Speaker 9

support in this area. And the prosecutor Han actually visited us and so many other French experts recently. They visited us. I had a meeting

Speaker 1

with

Speaker 9

Mr.

Speaker 1

Sanchez, with the Spanish

Speaker 9

prime minister, and their specialists actually are involved. And so many European countries will be invited to take part. Everyone wants to punish the criminals. Everybody knows who are the criminals.

Speaker 1

Regarding the

Speaker 9

Transnistria,

Speaker 1

so

Speaker 9

regarding Moldova,

Speaker 1

can we,

Speaker 9

God forbid, have the same

Speaker 1

tragedy like in Mariupol?

Speaker 9

Yes, it may happen.

Speaker 1

Thousands of tanks,

Speaker 9

thousands of APVs, a complicated situation,

Speaker 1

accumulation of Russian armament around the borders at our territory. Yes, they want to make this corridor. They want to just get

Speaker 9

some fresh water for the Crimea. They

Speaker 1

already have it.

Speaker 9

They

Speaker 1

already took

Speaker 9

all

Speaker 1

the territories, but they don't

Speaker 9

have

Speaker 1

water. It's not that

Speaker 9

simple. It's

Speaker 1

not just about getting a corridor. You just need to have a couple

Speaker 9

of

Speaker 1

more

Speaker 9

steps to be made. All these risks are there.

Speaker 1

These are not fake. But I don't

Speaker 9

believe these people

Speaker 1

will stop if we stop them.

Speaker 9

Then

Speaker 1

have negotiations. If we manage

Speaker 9

to strengthen our positions,

Speaker 1

then my position will

Speaker 9

strengthen in the negotiation process.

Speaker 1

But

Speaker 9

again, I just want to say one thing.

Speaker 1

You can't

Speaker 9

use power. I consider we proved it. You can't use force and inhumanity to win in Ukraine. You can't. Just what will you do with Ukraine then? What do you need it for

Speaker 1

after this? What

Speaker 9

could they

Speaker 1

do in Kiev region?

Speaker 9

People

Speaker 1

hate

Speaker 9

them. All

Speaker 1

of them. What

Speaker 9

could they

Speaker 1

do?

Speaker 9

Nazis.

Speaker 1

What did they do 80

Speaker 9

years ago? They occupied Europe. What did they do? What did they manage to achieve? Even at that moment when they were just drinking champagne in French restaurants.

Speaker 1

What did they do?

Speaker 9

People

Speaker 1

loved them.

Speaker 9

Not at all.

Speaker 1

They didn't.

Speaker 9

Actually, they became

Speaker 1

richer. Yes, they stole a lot. They took

Speaker 9

everything

Speaker 1

from museums,

Speaker 9

from palaces. What did

Speaker 1

they achieve? All they've achieved is that many generations in Germany, the

Speaker 2

young

Speaker 1

people in

Speaker 2

Germany have nothing to do with those events.

Speaker 1

They feel,

Speaker 2

they always feel that

Speaker 1

historically

Speaker 2

they have some sort of guilt. This is the thing that you can

Speaker 1

achieve. That

Speaker 2

is why

Speaker 1

I

Speaker 2

don't

Speaker 1

understand the reason. Why do you need yet another corridor, yet another country? They've taken Transnistria. They've taken Asia.

Speaker 2

Is that

Speaker 1

Hong Kong over there?

Speaker 2

Is there

Speaker 1

Dubai over there?

Speaker 2

I don't know.

Speaker 1

What's

Speaker 2

the

Speaker 1

reason?

Speaker 2

What's so tractable? Who's happy in those territories?

Speaker 4

If I pronounce that correctly, from Sweden, by

Speaker 2

the central aisle to the right.

Speaker 14

you very much, Mr. President. You mentioned before with the rebuilding. In your speech to the Swedish Parliament, you reached out specifically to Sweden to be part of this. First of all, I just wondered why Sweden? And the second one, given Sweden's status as a non-NATO country, do you ask something specifically from Sweden right now? And the third one, in your speech to the Parliament, you compared our flags saying it is not coincidence but destiny that they have the same color. How do you see future relations between Ukraine and Sweden? Thank you.

Speaker 1

I believe that

Speaker 2

we have

Speaker 1

a fairly good relationship and

Speaker 2

I'm grateful to Sweden as they do support, they do provide us with assistance. Not only through humanitarian assistance, they

Speaker 1

truly support us. I'm not ready

Speaker 2

to discuss all the

Speaker 1

details

Speaker 2

at this

Speaker 1

point. Why Sweden? We are called on many countries. You've asked

Speaker 2

why Sweden? Don't you want to

Speaker 1

join the rebuilding process? Look, we do have a good relationship with Sweden. And it's

Speaker 2

not

Speaker 1

about

Speaker 2

the assistance of your

Speaker 1

country to Ukraine, it's about

Speaker 2

joint future.

Speaker 1

As I've

Speaker 2

said,

Speaker 1

this

Speaker 2

is a part of

Speaker 1

a big program that has to do with our membership in the European Union. And that's our

Speaker 2

future in the

Speaker 1

joint victory. And that is why we

Speaker 2

are calling upon those countries whom we

Speaker 1

truly

Speaker 2

trust

Speaker 1

and respect. And that's why we are active with

Speaker 2

speaking on the other types of assistance and support. I don't want to go into details. We're expecting the support and it will arrive. I'm grateful for that and I know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 4

Now CBS to the right by the

Speaker 2

column, close to the central aisle.

Speaker 20

Thank you, Mr. President. Chris Lipsay, CBS News. You've said that the Russian people need to learn their history and be made aware of how much they've made their neighbors suffer. How are they supposed to do that so long as Vladimir Putin is their president? My second question is, how are you holding up personally?

Speaker 1

Well, how? Any person

Speaker 2

who's willing to learn

Speaker 1

the truth, they will find the truth. People want to understand what's happening around their country, what's happening in the world. This person can't find this information. We are developing whenever we are reading something, we are learning something, we are researching for something. Well, let's say whenever we are not sitting on the sofa and just listening or watching to the TV or Russian

Speaker 2

propaganda. And then when we switch on the TV,

Speaker 1

when

Speaker 2

we go

Speaker 1

outside

Speaker 2

and we have our eyes closed, and then whenever we go to work, whenever we are visiting any country or any city in Russia, whenever we can only

Speaker 1

see and only hear to what is provided on TV. This has done the right thing. I mean, we can't break this information bubble. You can't break through that bubble only from our side. I mean, we have to

Speaker 19

go

Speaker 1

towards one another. There are people in the Russian society who are willing

Speaker 2

to have more information,

Speaker 1

and

Speaker 2

there should be more and more of those people, and if they are willing to learn the true information, then

Speaker 1

they have to accept that truth, and there is this truth. They know that nobody's been killed on the streets

Speaker 2

of their cities. They can see that they have to understand that they're guilty, that their authorities are guilty. They've elected their authorities. They can't say that I have nothing to do with

Speaker 1

that. Well,

Speaker 2

our country is guilty. They can say that they can't do anything except for these words, and that I feel myself as the Russian citizen, and I feel that we will be responsible for that, that we take responsibility for that, and that's already

Speaker 1

an important

Speaker 2

step. They

Speaker 1

have to recognize this, that this is the bravery, this is the integrity of a person, despite

Speaker 2

whatever is thrown at your back, either the words or the stones. You don't have to be afraid of, and I think that's an important step to be made,

Speaker 1

and there's two words to describe it, the willingness of people. So answering your question when their people would

Speaker 2

be

Speaker 1

willing to learn the truth, and that moves to exit that computer game.

Speaker 2

I mean, living in Russia, it's like a computer game. It's a virtual reality. So when

Speaker 1

they press exit,

Speaker 1

they will remove

Speaker 2

those 3D glasses with three colors, when they will travel away, when they will go to reality, to the civilized world, it's beautiful, it's marvelous. It's much wider,

Speaker 1

it's

Speaker 2

much more

Speaker 1

beautiful, because it's truthful. And you shouldn't be like a leader in

Speaker 2

nuclear weapons. You can become a leader in all the countries with most civil IT experts. You don't need to launch a missile. Instead, you can pay salary to teachers.

Speaker 1

You can work, you

Speaker 2

can

Speaker 1

find a medicine for cancer. There are

Speaker 2

more areas where you can spend

Speaker 1

your

Speaker 2

money, your potential. We know that they have talented people. We know the history. They have the scientists, and historically there are scientists. There are mathematicians, many others. So there is what to spend

Speaker 1

those brains for.

Speaker 2

There's the intellect

Speaker 1

for. I mean, using normal sense, no offense, because on

Speaker 2

our territory,

Speaker 2

are losing their people. Yeah, they're

Speaker 4

losing them. Let's continue. Let's have someone from Ukraine, Telegraph, and

Speaker 2

the central aisle to the left, please. Greetings, President. The Telegraph publication. The Russian oligarch Abramovich has visited Kyiv twice, according to mass media, and he met our representatives. Did you have a meeting with him?

Speaker 1

And does

Speaker 2

he have any role in negotiations?

Speaker 1

Well,

Speaker 2

according to my information, and I have a lot of information,

Speaker 1

he is a

Speaker 2

part of

Speaker 1

the Russian negotiating team.

Speaker 2

And according to my information, he was in Kyiv, and the format of his meetings, this is something that I'm not ready to discuss right

Speaker 4

now. Thank you. Now

Speaker 2

Jewish

Speaker 4

Chronicle,

Speaker 2

this third row, please.

Speaker 3

I see, yeah. John Sweeney from the Jewish Chronicle, and I'm taking on Putin podcast. We've all seen and admired Ukraine's heroic fights against what we've just got to call Russian fascism. But President Zelensky, what's your message to the Russian opposition, to the teenagers who go and make demonstrations and get beaten up? By the Russian police in Moscow? By the man who took a copy of War and Peace and stood by the key of monuments in Red Square? And to Alexei Navalny, what's your message to the good people of Russia who are trying to oppose Vladimir Putin?

Speaker 1

Thank you. It's important to send

Speaker 2

the

Speaker 1

signal

Speaker 2

to those

Speaker 1

people who are opposing the war. And I absolutely am confident that people in Moscow or

Speaker 2

in Russia, it's very difficult for them to go on the street, because whenever you're going on the street in any European country, you should be afraid of anything, because you will leave by the

Speaker 1

law,

Speaker 2

and unless you

Speaker 1

are violating the law, you will remain a free person. Nobody will detain you, because you know that everyone is equal by the

Speaker 2

law,

Speaker 1

and all those people going on those

Speaker 2

streets and squares,

Speaker 1

there's

Speaker 2

not many people in

Speaker 1

Russia going out on those streets and

Speaker 2

squares.

Speaker 1

But by those

Speaker 2

examples,

Speaker 1

they add up the energy, and

Speaker 2

they let us believe that we will be able, at certain point, to break through that information bubble that we've

Speaker 1

recalled today several times. So I can say the words of gratitude to them, because we can see their words, we can see their actions, and if anything can break through that information bubble, that's the words, because the words hit hard,

Speaker 2

and that's why those

Speaker 1

people are behind the bars. The words are just as powerful as bullets, because if they would be weaker than

Speaker 2

the weapons they wouldn't be imprisoned,

Speaker 1

people are being afraid of. Look, just imagine, a country with nuclear weapons is afraid of their people coming on the streets, that's why we're supporting those people,

Speaker 2

we're grateful to

Speaker 1

those people,

Speaker 2

and I can

Speaker 1

wish them only health, because I understand what the police or law enforcement are doing to them, and they've made their

Speaker 2

own contribution in the savior of the history of Russia, they've made a contribution in that. I know that

Speaker 4

there are a lot of journalists from Japan, so

Speaker 2

now I'd like

Speaker 4

to have,

Speaker 2

if there are any journalists from Japan?

Speaker 2

Nikkei Asia, please, now I can see you, you have a chance to ask your question. The

Speaker 6

question is about the risk of Putin using a nuke. You, in some interviews, talk about, we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, Putin uses a nuke. What do you think, in what circumstance he is tempted to use a nuke? Something like Ukraine repels more Russian occupation, in that he's cornered, then he's likely to use a nuke. And the second question is, some kind of concern is, because of this war, a lot of countries might attempt to have nuclear weapons. What do you think, what if Ukraine didn't give up nuke at Budapest, do you think this war didn't happen? Do you regret it?

Speaker 1

Okay, let's have a detailed analysis

Speaker 2

of your question.

Speaker 1

Let's go step by step. First of all, I don't believe that anyone who's

Speaker 2

truly an adequate

Speaker 1

person can use a nuclear weapon. I think it's

Speaker 2

not that

Speaker 1

when the person is cornered, but

Speaker 2

when the person has no

Speaker 1

relation

Speaker 2

to

Speaker 1

reality,

Speaker 2

when the person is not in sound mind. Otherwise, you cannot justify the

Speaker 1

use of nuclear weapons. And if the leadership of the Russian Federation or still

Speaker 2

have

Speaker 1

at least some sort of connection to reality, they will not

Speaker 2

use the nuclear

Speaker 1

weapons. Now, this

Speaker 2

is also an answer to another part

Speaker 1

of your question, whether is

Speaker 2

this something that can happen on the part of Russian Federation? It can. It can happen. Whether I believe in

Speaker 1

that?

Speaker 2

Well, it's not that I would really like to believe in things like that. But you can see my response to the second part

Speaker 1

of your question.

Speaker 1

you

Speaker 2

understand,

Speaker 1

if we would

Speaker 2

have a nuclear

Speaker 1

weapon, of course

Speaker 2

Ukraine would never use

Speaker 1

this. This is something that is utterly impossible, because we are an adequate people. Any leader of our country who would be even

Speaker 2

starting to think like

Speaker 1

that, I mean,

Speaker 2

our people

Speaker 1

would crush him immediately. Our

Speaker 2

society would crush him. I would be the first one among others to run against

Speaker 1

that person. The only thing which is interesting is people somewhere deep in their soul. If

Speaker 2

they're considering they're capable of doing things like that, then there are people who think that there could be others who would be doing things like that. So I think if we would have nuclear weapons, then I think the risks of any aggression on the part of Russia would be reduced to minimum. That's what I believe.

Speaker 4

That's it.

Speaker 2

Now NBC at this center by the aisle.

Speaker 11

Mr. President, Erin McLaughlin, NBC News. With respect to tomorrow's visit from the U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, why is it important for high-ranking U.S. officials to visit the Ukrainian capital? And what do you plan to tell them? Also, the Secretary of Defense is next expected to travel to Germany to meet with allies to discuss Ukraine's long- and short-term security needs. What do you expect out of that meeting?

Speaker 1

I

Speaker 2

couldn't

Speaker 1

hear the second part of your question. I didn't hear. Can you repeat, please, the second part?

Speaker 11

The U.S. Secretary of Defense is expected to then travel to Germany to meet with allies to discuss Ukraine's long-term and short-term security needs. What would you like to see out of that meeting?

Speaker 1

Thank you. Why is that important

Speaker 2

for

Speaker 1

the leaders

Speaker 2

to

Speaker 1

arrive to Ukraine? Let me give you a dramatic answer. Because

Speaker 2

you can't arrive to Ukraine without nothing

Speaker 1

in

Speaker 2

your

Speaker 1

hands,

Speaker 2

and we're not asking for presents or cakes or sweets.

Speaker 1

We are seeking weapons. That's why I think we can receive an agreement from the United States or part of the package that we've agreed

Speaker 2

on

Speaker 1

before. That's why I think that's a positive signal, just the same as the leaders of other countries.

Speaker 2

I can frankly tell

Speaker 1

you that we're discussing

Speaker 2

silently a

Speaker 1

lot of things. There is this silent diplomacy. I don't really like it, but still. So we are calling upon all the leaders. And how

Speaker 2

would

Speaker 1

I put it? That we're not

Speaker 2

a country for tragic selfies. We

Speaker 1

have a real war. So please come to Ukraine. We would be

Speaker 2

happy to welcome

Speaker 1

you. But please come and

Speaker 2

bring

Speaker 1

the support, since you do have the possibilities. We never ask, and we never call upon any nation

Speaker 2

for support. We never ask if we're not sure that this country has it.

Speaker 1

We're not creating any uncomfortable situation.

Speaker 2

That's why the visit of the United States is very important. We have strategic

Speaker 1

issues

Speaker 2

with regards to the security guarantees. And

Speaker 1

it's my time for us

Speaker 2

to have a fruitful discussion

Speaker 1

on that matter, because the United States would be

Speaker 2

one

Speaker 1

of the leaders, one of the security guarantees for our country. And however it would all end up, the security guarantees are still necessary. And we will insist on that. And I'm confident that we will receive an expected result, a long

Speaker 2

-awaited result. That's why we are waiting for those guests. And speaking on the arrival or, let's say, the visit of the Secretary of Defense to Germany,

Speaker 1

we are expecting for

Speaker 2

the United States

Speaker 1

to

Speaker 2

support us in their dialogue with Germany, so that the Germany would finally start to supply us what they have. And they're not using that,

Speaker 1

because

Speaker 2

the war is on the territory of Ukraine. And every time in our conversation with Germany, we tell them that the war is currently in Ukraine, and you have what we need and you don't need.

Speaker 4

Thank

Speaker 9

you. Thank you. And then BBC, I guess. So, good evening. What would you say to Putin in the very beginning of your meeting? And how do you evaluate the work of Ukrainian ambassadors? If someone is slightly, like, failing, when shall we have, like, another wave of rotations? You know, step rotations in what countries? So the first part, what would I say to Putin? Okay.

Speaker 1

I

Speaker 9

think

Speaker 1

that

Speaker 9

my

Speaker 1

questions, the

Speaker 9

questions

Speaker 1

that I, or my

Speaker 9

statements that I would like to

Speaker 1

discuss,

Speaker 9

these would exclusively

Speaker 1

refer,

Speaker 9

exclusively refer

Speaker 1

to something

Speaker 9

I'm

Speaker 1

interested in as

Speaker 9

a president of Ukraine, exclusively as a president of Ukraine. Territorial

Speaker 1

integrity,

Speaker 9

first and foremost. I would discuss the issues of

Speaker 1

territorial

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integrity. How shall Donbass live in future? I mean, Ukrainian Donbass. How shall Ukrainian Crimea live and exist? In which specific point can we negotiate upon it? Can we actually negotiate upon it? Can we agree upon it? The most important thing is that you raise the issue. And we hear, all of us do hear that Russian Federation starts responding.

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Not

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in a satisfactory way for us, but still this dialogue

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is initiated. So

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without

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any extra

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sentiments, the issues for discussion will be very specific.

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I'm

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not sure that

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very

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emotional,

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but

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you

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see

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how

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I do react and respond. Everything can happen. But the

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second part,

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just about the

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ambassadors.

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someone,

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Ukrainian ambassadors, I mean, if someone is not that productive or… What exactly did you mean? You have to specify the question.

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yes, we work with

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ambassadors, of course,

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and

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today ambassadors

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have a very clear task.

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And assessing

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their

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work

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today is very simple,

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as simple as can be. Their task number

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one is the weapon supply,

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the armament supply. And we

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will

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evaluate their

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results and performance after the war is

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over. We will give

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the grade.

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If someone

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is not able to show the result, we have such people. Yes, it's true. It's a war. Nobody gives a second chance because we are at the state of warfare. That's how we assess their performance. That's it. Okay, we have BBC,

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Left part of the hall.

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Considering we've got Antonio Gutierrez, the United Nations Secretary General, coming to Russia and then here, realistically, what do you hope to see come out of his meeting with President Putin? And does Russia's role in the Security Council essentially render the United Nations useless in this regard?

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Well, the public messages,

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we already presented it, we talked about it. As long

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as we have the war,

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can't be

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a member

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of the Security Council, nothing to talk about. That's clear. I gave you the

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details today. I think it's

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a mistake to go first to Russia and only then to Ukraine. It's just wrong. What gave

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us

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messages from Russia? What is the purpose? The logic is,

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this

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is the

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logic. It

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means that

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someone

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actually

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has

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this

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ambiguous opinion. It means that the position is not clear about who is the aggressor. This is undelied. It's not an issue of coming to us first. It's not a competition. It's not a

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competition. There's

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no justice

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in this

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queue in this

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line. There's no logic.

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We need

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to add logic

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to this

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recipe. What is the logic?

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It's simple. If you want to finish

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a war, if you want to bring it to an end, you must clearly know what's happening. Come and see what's

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happening.

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What

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he will see

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in Russia?

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No

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dead bodies in

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Kutuzovsky

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Avenue. What he wants to see there first. He, a person of that status, I'm not entitled to

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actually affect him, to influence him in any way

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in

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his position,

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unfortunately. But

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it seems to me it's purely logical first to go to Ukraine, see the people, see everything they did. I mean the Russians, the consequences of the occupation, of the hostilities. And with that experience, with that baggage, to go to Russian Federation, to visit Putin and actually with that kind of experience, to formulate a message with this experience and express yourself

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and talk to Russia. Then you can ask

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questions, I

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guess. UN Secretary General can ask like the highest level questions. This is a top

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leader,

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the top position. Ask questions. Look for solutions. How can he avoid talking

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to it? What to offer?

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What to offer then if he

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doesn't talk to us first? It's just illogical. It's pure absence of logic. But who knows? People have like a lot of experience. Maybe they know better. We'll see.

Speaker 4

Thank

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you, colleagues. It's been two hours of communication. We're about to come to an end. We have to respect the curfew, the central part. Sorry, the left flank and then

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answer.

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And then we'll see.

Speaker 1

So

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tomorrow we have Easter and the Easter will be celebrated by Ukrainians, not only in their country, in occupied territories, unfortunately. People even abroad. There are so many Ukrainians abroad. Of course, Ukrainians, just like all other normal people in the world, they expect for the war to finish. What can you tell them or promise maybe? Can you just do it? I prepared

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a big speech to

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my country specifically

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for Easter and Easter

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speech

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to my citizens, to citizens

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I do respect, of the state I love

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so

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much. And

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you can't even understand the scope

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of my love.

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So I truly want to

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have peace

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like any human

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being.

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I

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want to wish

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them, all of them, to stay healthy, to stay safe. I want

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them to have

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some ordinary things finally

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like family happiness, joy.

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I never thought I would say

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this. You

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know what we previously said? We used to say like

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wishing some health or wishing our grannies and grandpas to stay safe and stay healthy because they are already old and to live a long life. I never thought I can wish to have a long life to children, to toddlers because of the war. I wish everyone, infants, toddlers, adults, teenagers, please, people save your children if you can. Keep them alive and safe.

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As

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a president,

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fortunately or unfortunately,

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I

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can't say I share the

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pain of each woman and each man. Everyone who unfortunately lost their children, I can understand this feeling

Speaker 4

as

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a father. Ansa, please, please. In

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the center. Ansa, Italian news agency. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is planning to come to Kiev in the next days. What do you expect from him and from the Italian government? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank

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you.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Recently, definitely,

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Italy, we can say that Italy has joined the anti-war coalition. I feel their strong support from Prime Minister Draghi as well. I'm grateful to him. We changed our relations in such a complicated moment. We had wonderful relations actually between Ukraine and Italy. Now,

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it's

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specifically wonderful. It became very practical. Italy supports us politically and support us with weapons. They are not afraid to say about it. I'm so grateful to Italy. I'm grateful to Italian people. And I'm grateful to Prime Minister. And that's

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true. We will

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expect, of course,

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Mr. Draghi to come. We're looking forward to that. He will get the full support from Ukrainian citizens. For him, it's important, I guess.

Speaker 9

I do consider this.

Speaker 1

This is not the first prime minister I've seen. I mean Italian prime ministers. I've seen them. I've met them. And there

Speaker 9

is certain historical watershed moment for our countries right now. Not just at the

Speaker 1

level of people. People always

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supported us. I mean the citizens. But at the level of government, we wanted to have the support. Italian government in this specific conflict, in this war between Russia and Ukraine, Italy picked our side. And I'm truly grateful for it, for this very clear, for this definite position.

Speaker 4

Okay, let's have

Speaker 9

the last question. Tarka, Ukraine,

Speaker 9

This will be the last question. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. President, tomorrow we'll have two months from the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We woke up on February 24th from the explosions. We lived in shelters. And people lived here on the subway. And today we have the opportunity to have the press conference. What do we need to do? What do we need to get from our international partners to have a press conference in Mariupol or in any other city in eastern Ukraine or southern Ukraine or in Kherson, wherever? Thank you. Thank you. I want to

Speaker 1

tell you, frankly, Ukraine already

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did everything.

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We

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did

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everything we could.

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This

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is my opinion. We

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are

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so

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united. We are

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tied. We are the links of the chain.

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We just have

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to keep it

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in ourselves.

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Keep it

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by

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the end of the war. Save it. And keep

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it after the war. We are like one

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body right now, you know?

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Breathing,

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living body. The word power of government.

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President, nobody

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actually responds negatively to these words. No negative connotations. I'm so proud of being a leader of a state. And I consider

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this to be a

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great victory.

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And our great

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weapon, the strongest weapon, uniting

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the

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power,

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the

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forces of

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military,

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special service officers, national guard, state border guard who were

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the

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first to respond, the communication officers who were the first to take the missiles. Those missiles flew from Belarus. And I'm so proud. I'm so proud of our defenders. They are so different. Local authorities. Imagine yourself loving your mayor, loving your local council. What level of support when people came to local elections to actually vote

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for

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MPs? They simply ignored it as

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we

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had it. Now we have this, I don't know, people

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are

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merging into one body. This is weapon number one.

Speaker 9

And Ukraine did it.

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We did it.

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Due to various reasons. And various heroes

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of

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this process we have. So many

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heroes with different

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faces,

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different eyes.

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The second weapon.

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The media weapon. We united the media information resource.

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It became

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a very powerful, strong weapon.

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And

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I think that today this is truly the second power. This is definitely the power. That is how we can

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oppose

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the aggressor. We stand for our interests. We

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advocate for

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ourselves. A powerful media campaign. What actually

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helped us to

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merge,

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Internally and externally. All our requests. Our journalists' announcements. Foreign journalists. Journalists of Western countries. I'm so grateful to you all because we have our own army. But it's like the second army that we have. We can oppose Russia. We can't oppose Russia only with the help of

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our journalists.

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But with millions

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of foreign

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journalists.

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We showed that this

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was possible. We united

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with all

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of you.

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All

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of you sitting here today. And your colleagues from other states. You

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bring the

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truth to your people. It's like Easter Eve. You

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are like

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the Christ's supporters. You are the Christ's followers. You bring his word to people. You tell about Russia. About its aggression. About its friends. About its tyranny. About its

Speaker 9

monstrous hostilities. You feel it. You see it. That's why we ask you to bring only something that you know. You as professionals, you can bring the

Speaker 1

truth

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to

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people. This is a big power that gives us unity as well. We as government, we as political leaders, we did everything to get the support of European countries.

Speaker 9

We actually, we

Speaker 1

talked

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to governments. We talked, we had another front line at the political level. Maybe someone will actually apologize me

Speaker 1

from European countries. Sometimes we were insolent.

Speaker 9

But

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try to understand this. We are at the state of war. My people are dying. We don't have time. We

Speaker 9

don't have minutes, days and years. We have three month old children dying. That's why I behave like that. That's why I'm insolent because I

Speaker 11

feel it.

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Because I feel that this will give me a fast result and this will give me a strong result. This

Speaker 1

is the third front line. The third army we have. European states, they've never been

Speaker 9

so much united.

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Everybody told me about it. The last meeting. Andriy, you remember when we actually met the Prime Minister of Spain and the Prime Minister of Denmark. Yes. We met them. And they said

Speaker 9

we never,

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we never had

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that

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feeling before. We can't lose. We can't lose it. And they were grateful to us. But this is the gratitude to all of us, to all Ukrainian, to all

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the people. They were

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grateful for

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this

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feeling of unity. European Union was never that united at

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such a

Speaker 1

level to protect the values. We always spoke about those values.

Speaker 1

right now, these are the values that we fight for. You understand that you fight for. With us, we want to help you to bring this truth. This is the

Speaker 9

unity that

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brings us to victory. I

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don't

Speaker 1

want to tell you, you'll get offended and try to, you'll feel this is too personal. One of the Prime

Speaker 9

Ministers just told me that thanks to Ukraine, I

Speaker 1

understood what

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NATO

Speaker 1

is

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about. What the

Speaker 1

alliance is about.

Speaker 9

I got

Speaker 1

that message. And how should it look like?

Speaker 9

The task

Speaker 1

for the alliance. If it's capable of actually responding quickly

Speaker 9

to any kind of aggression,

Speaker 1

that

Speaker 9

is

Speaker 1

why Ukraine, it did so much. It did so much. It did unbelievably many

Speaker 9

things.

Speaker 1

Many

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things to unite the

Speaker 1

world.

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And not only the weapons.

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We have

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the unity,

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but the

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weapon. That's

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what we need. And we're about to have a

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religious holiday. At this

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holy land of Kyiv-Rus, where

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the

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Orthodox

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Christianity was actually

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born, so many centuries ago. Because this is the place right now, Kyiv is the place where the

Speaker 9

Orthodox Christianity was born. Russia says something like, no, Moscow was there. We know where it came from. We know where the roots are. We do not fight for

Speaker 1

being the first. We

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fight for

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existence of our history. For existence itself. For our own existence.

Speaker 9

We fight

Speaker 1

for peace.

Speaker 9

I just

Speaker 1

have to say.

Speaker 9

We fight

Speaker 1

for

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But

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we have to fight for peace not just with the word

Speaker 9

and

Speaker 1

truth, but with the weapon.

Speaker 9

This is the last piece

Speaker 1

of the puzzle

Speaker 9

that we

Speaker 1

have to get. All countries have to

Speaker 9

stand up.

Speaker 1

Being

Speaker 9

united. We are united already.

Speaker 1

We all are united. Please,

Speaker 9

don't

Speaker 1

lose your courage.

Speaker 9

Be brave.

Speaker 1

Be the brave people.

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Be the brave leaders.

Speaker 1

And not just for us. Not just for our

Speaker 9

victory.

Speaker 1

But for you. For yourselves.

Speaker 9

Because your

Speaker 1

communities, your societies, your

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nations,

Speaker 1

your people,

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wait for such

Speaker 1

leaders to arise. They wait

Speaker 9

for it.

Speaker 1

And after us,

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well, after

Speaker 1

us in a good sense,

Speaker 9

we are not saying

Speaker 1

goodbye now. I mean, after this war, you will see that your societies, your nations will change you. You will be brave. You will be ready

Speaker 9

to defend your states. Just like we do. With the same fierce motivation that we have

Speaker 1

today.

Speaker 9

By supporting us, thank you. We truly believe in that. Thank

Speaker 1

you. Ladies

Speaker 9

and gentlemen,

Speaker 1

unfortunately,

Speaker 9

I

Speaker 1

didn't have time for all the

Speaker 9

questions,

Speaker 1

but you

Speaker 9

had a

Speaker 1

very good offer.

Speaker 9

Let's

Speaker 1

meet in

Speaker 9

Mariupol

Speaker 1

when we free it. So we

Speaker 9

will continue and I hope it will happen

Speaker 1

soon.