“Russia’s war against us, against our people, against Ukraine shows the world what modern warfare looks like. Every leader has to focus on ensuring their armies are technologically advanced,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Ukraine – South-East Europe Summit on October 9.
I’m glad to see you all and grateful for the work we’ve done together – Ukraine and your countries. This is our third meeting in this format, and I am thankful to all of you for your support for Ukraine, Ukrainian people. Thanks, Andrej for today, for our children. Thank you so much for your hospitality to our wounded soldiers recovering here, in your countries, and especially for your participation in the Peace Summit, as Andrej said, Peace Summit and immediate joining to the final Communiqué – all of you really try to end this war in a just way. It’s so important for us. And we do value the relationships between our nations, everything that strengthens us and makes the world more stable. Unfortunately, stability is becoming a rare resource. So every source of security for people, every source of true peace in international relations is precious.
No one in Europe has to be reminded how important stability is for the Balkans. Just as the situation in Eastern Europe, what happens in the Balkans defines whether Europe is suffering from war. That’s why Ukraine’s resistance to Russian invasion is a condition for your stability. If Russia had succeeded in subjugating our country and threatening all of Eastern Europe, there’s no doubt that the next region Moscow would use to destabilize Europe would be the Baltics or Balkans. So we share a common interest in ensuring that Russia lacks the power to continue its aggression or interfere in the lives of other nations.
Full text of the address: Office of the President of Ukraine
