“We believe that respect for every nation and the right of nations to security and independent choice of their destiny should be universal principles,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an address at the opening of the Ukraine – South East Europe Summit.
Dear Prime Minister Rama!
Dear colleagues, dear friends!
First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Rama for all your personal and Albania’s support for Ukraine – both military and humanitarian, as well as political one. Thank you for organizing and hosting this Summit. This is the second time we meet in such a format – previously we met in Athens, and now in welcoming Tirana.
Edi, Mr. Prime Minister, I highly appreciate your hospitality and this opportunity to discuss all together how we can strengthen our countries, regions, and the entire Europe.
Everyone understands that now is the time when the path of Europe is being determined for at least several next generations. We all want Europe to be a space where every nation determines its own destiny. We have seen in the past how someone else tried to determine the fate of other nations. This happened in the Balkans, in Eastern Europe, and in all other parts of Europe. Now Putin wants to do exactly the same. All his hostility, everything he does, and everything he wants to force other nations to do, is an attempt to make the old dictates of how nations should exist and what they should agree or disagree with – to make it “the new normal”.
So, that’s why it is important for all free nations, all of us, that Putin and his regime lose – because all his failures are our common security.
Full text of the address: Office of the President of Ukraine
