Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Boris Johnson made statements for media representatives 09.04.2022

Speaker 1

Honorable Prime Minister, dear Boris, ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to welcome the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson, to Kyiv today, our sincere friend, a friend of Ukraine, the leader of Great Britain, and an ally of our state. I thank you very much for this visit; it is very important. We are, of course, in a tense, dangerous, and difficult time for our state, but you are here, and great gratitude to you from all of us, from the people of Ukraine. This visit is a manifestation of truly decisive, significant, and constant support for Ukraine from Great Britain. And we value this and we will always remember it. Quite recently, you and I met here in Kyiv—and you mentioned it today—we summed up the results of our joint work in the mode of strategic dialogue, planned future projects between our states, and toured Kyiv. And today you see with your own eyes what our state looks like. And you know perfectly well how our cities and our villages look now because of the Russian invasion. There is one conclusion, it is our common one. We must put even more pressure on the Russian Federation, pressure through effective assistance to the people of Ukraine, specifically in defense against the Russian Federation, pressure with powerful sanctions. I thank Great Britain, which continues these powerful sanctions, constantly increasing these packages, powerful packages. And likewise helps Ukraine powerfully, strengthening our defense with capability. Other democratic Western states should follow the example of Great Britain. It is time to introduce a full embargo on Russian energy resources and increase the provision of all weapons to us. The people of Ukraine value Great Britain's support on our path to peace. And the Prime Minister and I were united in the view that it is necessary to further strengthen our anti-war coalition. I informed the Prime Minister about the progress of the negotiation process, about our clear position. And peace agreements must provide for a mechanism of effective guarantees for our state. We also spoke about this in detail today. We count on London playing a key role in this process. And achieving peace in Ukraine will be our common future victory. Today we discussed the main areas on which efforts must be focused. On this path, we recognized the criticality of the task and coordinated our further work. We are consolidating maximum support for our state in strengthening the defense capability of our troops. In supporting our citizens both in Ukraine and outside our state. In the reconstruction of Ukraine; the Prime Minister also spoke about this. And we will rebuild our country, our beautiful cities, together. And once again I want to thank you, Boris, for your support, for your leadership in support regarding, truly, regarding the arming of our army, for the powerful, direct, clear position of your beautiful and strong country. And thank you that your visit is today in such a truly difficult time. And you did it. Thank you and your team.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for receiving me today in these very difficult times for your country. I would like to emphasize from the start the strength of the people of Ukraine in the struggle against the Russian army. Over the last few weeks, the world has found new heroes. And these heroes have become the people, the citizens of Ukraine. Literally a few weeks ago we met with you in this building, but in a different room. And the intelligence information we possessed indicated that the Russians thought Kyiv would fall within hours before their armada. However, how wrong they were and how strongly the Ukrainians demonstrated the strength of a Lion. And I would like to thank you for your immense leadership. What Putin did in Bucha, in Irpin, these war crimes, they dealt a devastating blow to his reputation and the reputation of his government. And for a long period we discussed that he really needs to be pressured, and his withdrawal of troops is only temporary. And that is why you absolutely correctly noted that it is necessary to provide every kind of support to Ukraine, and together with partners we will strengthen economic pressure and we will intensify sanctions against Russia with every week. We will not limit ourselves to freezing assets or sanctions against oligarchs. We will also affect Russia's ability to use its energy resources. We will provide economic support to Ukraine. Undoubtedly, we will provide defense military aid to Ukraine. And I would like to note that we are indeed providing such aid. We raised over one and a half billion euros from partners during a recent event to attract them to support Ukraine. We want to liberalize trade with Ukraine in order to help economically. We want to provide assistance with demining in order to get rid of those mines, traps, which Russian soldiers leave behind. And now we come to the central issue, Mr. President. I think that we are developing, we are forming a vision of our future. And Heraclitus said that war is the father of change. But war indeed determines the vision of the future, the vision of the future of Ukraine. Together with partners, with friends, we, Great Britain and other partners, will provide equipment, technologies, know-how, intelligence information, so that Ukraine never faces the fear of invasion, so that Ukraine can never face blackmail or threats. Meanwhile, there remains much to be done to ensure the success of Ukraine and the victory of Ukraine and the defeat of Putin. Over the last few hours I have seen a lot of your country. This is truly a wonderful country. However, I have seen the tragic consequences of war. A war that cannot be justified. This is a war that is not necessary. Even during a few hours in Kyiv, after speaking with you, with your colleagues, I have no doubt that an independent and sovereign Ukraine will emerge as a result of this war. So thank you for the courage of the people of Ukraine. Thank you. Glory to Ukraine!