Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Statement on the Situation in Ukraine (23/10/2022)

The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 23 October 2022.

Dear Ukrainians!

We continue eliminating the aftermath of today’s terrorist attacks on our infrastructure. The geography of this new massive strike is very wide: Volyn, Odesa, Khmelnytsky region, Kirovohrad region, Dnipropetrovsk region, Rivne region, Mykolaiv region, Zaporizhia region and other places.

The main target of terrorists is energy. Therefore, please be even more careful than before about the need to consciously consume electricity. The stability of the power industry of our entire state depends on each city and district of Ukraine.

Please limit the use of appliances that use a lot of electricity. And especially during peak consumption hours in the morning and in the evening. Please, pay attention to notices from local authorities and power companies about when there may be stabilization blackouts on your street or in your area. Plan your day with this information in mind.

In part of the territory of our country, where electricity was cut off due to today’s strike, it has already been possible to restore power supply. Electricity supply has already been resumed partly in Odesa region, partly in Khmelnytsky region, most of Rivne region has resumed power supplies. There are positive reports from other regions as well. But in many cities, in many districts, recovery work is still ongoing. We are trying to return power to people as soon as possible.

I want to thank everyone who is involved in this work: energy workers, utility and local government workers, government officials and businesses that also help. Together, we are now showing that Ukrainian life cannot be broken. Even if the enemy can leave us temporarily without power, it will still never succeed in leaving us without the desire to make things right, to mend and return them to normal.

And even now – partially in the dark – life in our state, in our Ukraine, is still civilized. Unlike Russia that brings us this terror. They still have the same wildness with electricity there, as in ancient times. Only savages can bring such evil to the world.

I want to emphasize: neither this strike by terrorists nor any other similar strikes by them will stop our defenders.

Russian propagandists are lying when they say that this terror against our infrastructure and people can somehow slow down the active actions of our military or create some difficulties for our defense. Ukrainians are united and know for sure that Russia has no chance of winning this war. Our defense forces are getting everything they need to defend the country and are pushing forward every day – I emphasize: every day.

Our Air Force also shows good results. Of course, we do not yet have the technical ability to shoot down 100% of Russian missiles and attack drones. We will gradually come to this – with the help of our partners, I’m confident of this. But we are already shooting down most of the cruise missiles, most of the drones. Only in the first half of this day, 20 missiles were shot down – Kalibr and Kh-101 missiles, as well as more than 10 Iranian Shahed UAVs.

Today, I want to once again thank our soldiers – fighter pilots and anti-aircraft gunners of the West, South and Center air commands, as well as mobile fire groups of all the Defense Forces for the saved lives of our people and the preserved infrastructure of Ukraine.

We are preparing the ground for extending the global sanctions policy to all Russian propagandists, so-called opinion leaders and show business representatives who support or justify terror. The International Working Group on Sanctions Against Russia, chaired by Michael McFaul and Andriy Yermak, has prepared an Individual Sanctions Roadmap. It prepared a basic list of all those involved in the spread of narratives without which Russian terror is impossible. We must clearly evaluate such an “informational and emotional” component of terror: the Russian army loses and retreats on the battlefield, and therefore the results of terror against our civilian population and infrastructure are presented by Russian propaganda as a substitute for military victories.

Also, various Russian newsmen and stars are involved in justifying the criminal attempt to annex our territory and mobilize for war against us, against Ukraine. Absolutely all such persons should receive a full package of individual sanctions so that they cannot do anything in the world at all. We are working on it.

Ukraine was very well represented this week in Frankfurt at the largest book fair in Europe and one of the largest in the world. This is not just an event for the publishing business and writers. It is one of the key European discussion platforms and an influential informational event.

The First Lady of Ukraine presented her projects supporting education and the cultural sphere there. In particular, the Books Without Borders initiative is to provide children of our forced migrants with books in the Ukrainian language. And also the Ukrainian Bookshelf project, which is already presented in 20 countries of the world.

In total, more than 40 Ukrainian publishing houses, famous writers, famous publicists, and historians took part in the Frankfurt fair. I thank everyone who worked in Frankfurt for making Ukraine heard and bringing the message about it there. Every contribution to the world’s support for Ukraine is vitally important.

I thank everyone who works and helps for our victory!

Eternal glory to all who fight for Ukraine!

Glory to our indomitable people!

Glory to Ukraine!