The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award has been presented for 60 years in recognition of contributions to human development. For the ingenuity that can only be realized in freedom.
In today's world, we cannot afford to lose a single battle when, on one side, there is freedom, and on the other, everything we would never wish for our children. We all need victory. And we all know why.
Нагорода Американської академії досягнень – The Golden Plate Award. Упродовж 60 років нею відзначають за внесок у розвиток людства. За винахідливість, яка може бути реалізована лише в умовах свободи.
Сьогоднішній світ не дозволяє нам програти жодної битви, коли на одному боці – свобода, а на іншому – усе те, чого ми ніколи не побажали б своїм дітям. Нам усім потрібна перемога. І ми всі знаємо чому.
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We all need to work together to remove the dangers in Hormuz in a way that helps protect freedom of navigation everywhere in the world. The decisions made now on Hormuz will shape what other troublemakers might think about causing problems – in other straits and on other fronts.
We must be as concrete and clear as possible so that we don't end up, six months from now, like in Gaza – where lots yet has to be done – security there is still largely fragile, reconstruction hasn’t really started, and many humanitarian problems remain unresolved. In Hormuz, there are security tasks that can’t be solved by political decisions only.
First, we need to define what actually depends on all of us in Hormuz and what depends on the U.S. It’s also important to involve the countries of the Middle East in a way that reflects their shared interests. Key principle is: after the war security must be stronger, not weaker.
At the EU Council meeting I said: just like authorities confiscate money from drug-traffickers and seize weapons from terrorists, Russian assets must be used to defend against Russian aggression and rebuild what was destroyed by Russian attacks. It’s moral. It’s fair. It’s legal.
I’m grateful to EU leaders for their attention and support for Ukraine. We’ve all come a long way – and yes, there were many challenges and moments of doubt. But the fact remains – Europe achieved a lot, and Putin didn’t break Ukraine, and he didn’t make Europe look like a loser.
Russia has lost – in literally everything it tried to use to threaten or break us, break Europe. Europe has demilitarized Russia’s gas weapon – the continent no longer lets Moscow manipulate it with energy. This is a historic achievement that just a few years ago seemed almost impossible.
Fruitful diplomacy ahead. Sunday – visit to Greece and important agreement on natural gas imports. Monday – historic deal with France in Paris to strengthen our combat aviation and air defense. Tuesday – talks in Spain on bolstering our air defense and initiatives with partners.
Not a single day is wasted for Ukraine. Today, we have already prepared an agreement with Greece on gas for Ukraine, which will be another gas supply route to secure imports for the winter as much as possible.
A historic agreement has also been prepared with France – there will be a significant strengthening of our combat aviation, air defense, and other defense capabilities. According to the visit schedule, this will take place on Monday.
Today, I addressed EU leaders at European Council meeting at a very important moment—a time when Russia is actively trying to turn the cold weather into weapon.
Ukraine knows what to do to prevent the worst scenarios. And this requires decisive and urgent collective action.
The Russians want Ukraine to enter winter in a blackout. Most of the Russian missile and drone strikes are aimed at destroying normal life in our cities and communities—to force people to flee or to leave them completely without electricity.
Yesterday, in the city of Kharkiv, Russian drones struck a kindergarten. This wasn’t a mistake or accident—several drones intentionally hit that place. Luckily, children were saved.
Russia is openly trying to destroy our civilian infrastructure right now, ahead of winter – our gas infrastructure, our power generation and transmission. Zero real reaction from the world. We will fight so that the world does not remain silent and so that Russia feels the response.
Every Russian missile and every Russian attack drone also contains parts that are still being supplied to Russia from Western countries and various countries close to Russia. Now, in the fourth year of the full-scale war, it is simply strange to hear anyone claim they don’t know how to stop the flow of critical components.
A single Russian Kinzhal missile contains 96 foreign-made components, many of them truly critical ones that Russia does not produce itself. The nearly 500 drones the Russians used overnight contain over 100,000 foreign-made parts.