Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has addressed Ukrainians with a traditional New Year speech, expressing hope for economic growth and better life standards in the coming year:
"Dear fellow Ukrainians!
First of all, let us rejoice at our fellow citizens who recently came back from captivity to friends and relatives. Thank God, we managed to wrest them from the enemy’s torture chambers.
Let us congratulate the Ukrainian warriors with great respect. They firmly hold the line on the eastern frontiers. We will continue to reinforce the new army - our pride and our glory.
Let Crimea and Sevastopol, Donetsk and Luhansk hear my sincere wishes through the artificial delimitation lines. Brothers and sisters, your home is Ukraine… At some point, we will banish and punish the robber who plundered our home.
I convey sincere greetings to our international partners. USA has just announced a decision to supply modern defensive weapons to us. A step in this direction was made by Canada and other states. The European Union extended sanctions against the country-aggressor as well.
And the decision of the Stockholm arbitration tribunal was made as if it is a Christmas gift. It protected us from the extremely unfavorable conditions of the gas contract of the ninth year.
Once again, I congratulate hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have already used the visa-free regime. And millions who will take the advantage of it in the future. I congratulate all of us on our resolute and irreversible movement towards Europe. Last year's festive night we only made a wish for the visa-free regime and now it came true.
Still with mistakes, but we move forward. After several years of crisis caused by the war, we are switching to recovery and development.
Huge gratitude to all of you for everything the country has achieved. This is the result of our joint work.
The Government should speed up the pace of growth in the new year. The improvement of the level of life noticeable for the majority of Ukrainians is essential. And we are capable of that.
As President, I will provide the political conditions necessary for the economic growth. We should take away the matches from those who want to set fire to the house from the inside. We should open fire on those who will attack us from the outside. We should cherish our unity as the apple of one’s eye.
Optimism, faith in our country, our forces are our main resource. Everything will be alright. For this, as archbishop Lubomyr Husar told, we should pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on us.
I wish Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainians all over the world peace, happiness and prosperity!
Happy New Year!
Glory to Ukraine!"