President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
8 November 2022
Dear colleagues!
Dear Mr. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
At this Conference, like at other summits and high level meetings on catastrophic climate change, there is no lack of words. There is no lack of good definitions and no shortage of prescriptions for what the world should do. I listened to some of the speeches today โ and I agree with many of the assessments.
The world is on the brink. And beyond this limit โ devastating changes that will forever change the usual life on all continents. Colleagues have described well what this means. No one can stay aside.
And the poorer the person, the poorer the family, the poorer the country โ the more painful the effects of climate change will be for them. However, this also applies to all rich nations โ it is impossible to buy off the destruction of the climate.
But why do we keep talking about it every year? Why instead of reports on what has been done, the same forecasts and appeals are made every year?
I will be honest โ there are still many who do not take the climate agenda seriously. And not only in politics, but also in big business.
There are still many for whom climate change is just rhetoric or marketing or political ritual โ whatever, but not real action.
They are the ones who hamper the implementation of climate goals. They are the ones in their offices who make fun of those who fight to save life on the planet, although in public they seem to support the work for the sake of nature in every possible way. They are the ones who start wars of aggression when the planet cannot afford a single gunshot, because it needs global joint actions.
You all know about the war that Russia started in Europe, trying to destroy the independence of my country. But what does this war mean?
This Russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people at least a little… To lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate Russian actions.
The Russian war brought an acute food crisis to the world, which hit worst those countries suffering from the existing manifestations of climate change โ catastrophic droughts, large-scale floods.
The Russian war destroyed 5 million acres of forests in Ukraine in less than six months! Not every country in the world has such an area of forests that were burned in Ukraine by Russian shelling.
We have to check every day the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. If there is no radiation leaks? The Russian army has turned this nuclear power plant de-facto into a military training ground. They are constantly “playing” with connecting and disconnecting the plant and nuclear reactors from the power grid. This is a direct risk of a radiation disaster.
Who will care, for example, about the amount of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere if part of Europe or the Middle East, and possibly northern Africa, God forbid, are covered by a radiation cloud after an accident in Zaporizhzhia? Last year we could not even imagine that kind of question, but this year Russia has posed dozens of such questions to the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
World needs honesty.We must tell those who do not take the climate agenda seriously that they are making a catastrophic mistake.
We must stop those who, with their insane and illegal war, are destroying the world’s ability to work united for a common goal.
There can be no effective climate policy without peace on the Earth. Because, in fact, nations are thinking only about how to protect themselves here and now from the threats created in particular by the Russian aggression.
Russia needs to shut the guns and hide its missiles so the world finally hears what we can all really do together to save ourselves from the climate disaster. All of us โ in Europe, Africa, Asia, America, Australia.
I invite you all to support our initiative presented here at the Conference โ creation of a global platform to assess the Impact of military actions on climate and environment.
We are all thinking about how to generate hundreds of billions of dollars to help developing countries protect themselves from the climate change. Under these conditions, how can anyone cause additional insane damage to the nature with their invasive military ambitions? Such ambitions deserve only punishment.
Mr. President of Egypt said an important thing in his speech: we must meet expectations of the people all over the world โ people who are suffering more than ever. I absolutely support this goal.
We must ensure that suffering does not multiply because the world does not have time to respond to climate challenges. But to do this, we need joint effective actions. And for them to be, we need peace.
And I thank everyone who works for peace! I thank everyone who takes seriously the need to protect life on the Earth for the benefit of all people โ all nations, all classes, all cultures.
I thank you for your attention.
ะกะปะฐะฒะฐ ะฃะบัะฐัะฝั!
Dozens of Ukrainian flags have already returned to their rightful place in the framework of the defense operation – address by the President of Ukraine
10 November 2022
Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!
Today we have good news from the south.
The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place in the framework of the ongoing defense operation is already dozens. 41 settlements were liberated.
I thank all our heroes who make this advance possible. Armed Forces, intelligence, special services… Everyone.
And I will especially mention the warriors of the 28th separate mechanized brigade, the 46th airborne assault brigade, the 60th separate infantry brigade and the 128th separate mountain assault brigade. Those who implement offensive actions. Thank you guys!
Now we are all happy to see how the Ukrainians who remained in the occupied villages and cities meet our warriors.
Many are now checking almost every hour where our units have reached and where else our national flag was raised.
But, rejoicing, we should all remember now and always what this movement means, we should remember that every step of our defense forces is the lives of our warriors. Lives given for freedom for Ukrainians. Everything that is happening now has been achieved by months of fierce struggle. It was achieved through courage, pain, and loss. It’s not the enemy leaving. It is the Ukrainians who drive the occupiers out at a heavy cost. Just as in the east of our country, in the Kharkiv region. Just as before, in the north – Kyiv region, Sumy region, Chernihiv region. Now – Mykolaiv region, Kherson region.
We have to go all the way – on the battlefield and in diplomacy – for our flags, Ukrainian flags, and never again enemy tricolors, to be hoisted on our entire land, along our entire internationally recognized border. It will be so.
Our warriors are virtually immediately followed to the liberated areas by those who restore all conditions for normal life.
The first and basic one is demining. The occupiers leave behind thousands of unexploded mines and munitions. I have often heard estimates that clearing Ukraine of Russian mines will take decades. We can’t wait that long.
We have to do in years what elsewhere in the world could have taken decades after hostilities.
First of all, houses, social facilities, communications, roads – the entire space of people’s lives – are being demined.
But the occupiers mine everything: power lines, enterprise buildings, fields, forests.
At the peak of mine contamination in Ukraine, we had 300,000 square kilometers of dangerous territory.
Today, thanks to the true heroism of Ukrainian sappers and pyrotechnicians, our rescuers and everyone who helps them, the area of land contaminated by mines and munitions has been reduced.
Now about 170,000 square kilometers remain for demining. In particular, this is also the case in the most difficult areas – where hostilities are still ongoing, where the enemy will add mines before his retreat, as it is now in Kherson… Plus forests, plus a huge area of fields.
I am grateful to our partners who are already implementing mine clearance assistance projects. These are the US, Canada and Great Britain, as well as Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Austria, Poland, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, UN structures.
Any person on earth – everyone who supports Ukraine – can make a personal contribution through our United24 charity platform.
In particular, thanks to such aid, we have already purchased the first most effective demining machine – Armtrac 400 which is currently operating in the Kharkiv region.
It covers 1.5 hectares in an hour, fully guaranteeing the disposal of mines. And first of all, it clears the territory along the power lines so that energy workers can fulfill their duties and restore power supply.
We will add more such equipment and speed up demining wherever we return our flag, our normal Ukrainian life.
The forces of the National Police immediately follow the warriors to the liberated areas.
Today, the police entered Kalynivske, Bobrovyi Kut, Yevhenivka, Kotsyubynske and Snihurivka. Stabilization measures began there.
I had two important phone calls today.
Together with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom we discussed further defense support for our country and exchanged views of the ongoing frontline operations.
We are preparing for important international events next week, in particular for the G20 summit, we are coordinating positions with partners.
Together with the Prime Minister of Canada we also discussed the G20, our initiatives within the UN – we have important draft resolutions that we propose the General Assembly to support.
Separately, we touched upon the areas of defense and security cooperation that already exist with Canada. We are planning to expand our cooperation.
There are still important negotiations scheduled for tomorrow.
Today I also want to thank the Netherlands for another step to strengthen our defense. 100 million euros will go to the fund to support our defense.
These funds, as well as funds from other partners, will be used to purchase equipment directly from manufacturers and will work for the future. For Ukraine to become stronger.
And one more thing.
Today we have the announcement of a new military assistance package from the United States of America. Important means of air defense. Just what we needed, what we asked for.
Glory to all who fight and work for our country and our people!
Gratitude to everyone who helps!
Eternal glory to all those who give their lives for Ukraine and who gave their lives.
Glory to Ukraine!