Zelensky : We Are Making Every Effort to Resume Exchanges in the New Year
The president addressed the nation.
The Gaze reports on it according to the President's official site.
We are starting this year with diplomacy and continuing talks with our partners. The most important thing is that we, Ukraine, receive sufficient support. This is what everything depends on, first and foremost our soldiers on the front lines, all our defenders, our industry, our production, weapons production, everyone who helps us, all our international support. Air defense systems must be sought every day. Ukraine needs missiles for air defense every day. And so do we need money for weapons, for drones for our army, for equipment — everything we need. Everything as actively as possible. The same goes for the negotiations — they need to move forward in all aspects, on every track.
Today, Rustem Umerov is attending meetings in Turkey: with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, followed by intelligence services. We are making every effort to resume exchanges in the new year, which is a key topic in our discussions with Turkey. We need this assistance to bring our Ukrainians home from Russian captivity. Last year, exchanges were active, but unfortunately slowed down at the end of the year, so now we need to resume them. Rustem is also in daily contact with the American team and our partners in Europe – yesterday, today. We are preparing formats, we are preparing important meetings. On January 3, there will be a meeting of national security advisors in Ukraine. This is the first such meeting in Ukraine on peace. European representatives will be there, and we expect the American team to join online. Fifteen countries have confirmed their participation, plus representatives of European structures and NATO. Then, on January 5, there will be a meeting of military leaders, the chiefs of general staffs. The main thing is security guarantees for Ukraine. Politically, almost everything is ready, and it is important to work out every detail of how the guarantees will work in the air, on land, and at sea if we manage to end the wand the peace agreement has brought greater political confidence. Thank you to everyone who is helping us.
I have just spoken with the President of Cyprus, the first call of the year. Cyprus's presidency of the European Union begins on January 1, and it is important for us that Ukraine is among the priorities of the Cypriot presidency for the next six months. Ukraine's membership in the European Union also means security guarantees, and we are working on membership as well. I informed him about our conversation with the United States, about the situation in diplomacy, and I thank Cyprus for its support. Thank you, Mr. President Nicos, for all your important words about Ukrainians, about Ukraine, about our strength.
On January 6, there will be a meeting at the leadership level: European countries, leaders of the Coalition of the Willing. We are now preparing for the meeting to be productive, for there to be more support, and for there to be more political confidence in the guarantees and the peace agreement.
Of course, I thank everyone who has been working since last night and this morning to restore the damage caused by Russian strikes. Even on New Year's Eve, the Russians did not hold back. That's how they are. But we are defending ourselves and rebuilding. That's how Ukrainians are.
As the Gaze reported earlier New Year, New Hope: Zelenskyy Speaks on Peace and Global Support.