President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Ukrainian defenders in Donbas for their resilience and thus winning time for the rest of the country.
The following is the text of his evening address published on the official presidential website:
"I wish you health, dear Ukrainians!
Today, I have held a regular meeting of the Staff. The main attention was paid to the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions - those areas that are the hottest now.
Bakhmut and Soledar, Kreminna and Svatove, overall prospects in Donbas for the coming weeks. The battle for Donbas continues. And although the invaders have now concentrated their greatest efforts on Soledar, the result of this difficult and long battle will be the liberation of our entire Donbas.
I thank all our warriors who defend our Bakhmut and demonstrate maximum resilience! I thank all the warriors in Soledar who withstand new and even tougher attacks of the occupiers! It is extremely difficult - there are almost no whole walls left... Due to the resilience of our warriors there, in Soledar, we have gained additional time and additional power for Ukraine.
And what did Russia want to gain there? Everything is completely destroyed, there is almost no life left. And thousands of their people were lost: the whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers and scars from the strikes. This is what madness looks like.
I thank all our defenders for every step forward in other areas on the frontline, for gradual advancement - very careful, calculated and therefore absolutely reliable.
Today, the Commander-in-Chief, commanders, chief of intelligence reported to the Staff... We integrate into our defense system new combat means and equipment that we receive from our partners. We do everything to ensure that there is as little time as possible between the agreement on additional support and the application of this support on the battlefield.
Today, I held four more stages of negotiations with partners - we continue our diplomatic marathon, which began last year with a visit to Washington. During this day - Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, President of Slovenia, Prime Minister of Portugal, Prime Minister of North Macedonia.
I spoke to all of them about the increase of defense support for our state, the necessity to bring Russian aggression to defeat this year and the implementation of all elements of our peace formula - from the restoration of territorial integrity of Ukraine to the punishment of terrorists for their actions.
There will be good news for our state, and it is very important that we reach an agreement with our partners right now, on the eve of the new "Ramstein", and against the background of new brutal crimes of the occupiers.
Russian strikes on Kherson and Ochakiv, cities of the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, constant terror against border communities of the Sumy region... Constant terror against our people in the occupied territory...
The world knows that every day of Russian presence on Ukrainian soil means deaths, injuries, pain and suffering of people. Ukraine must get everything it needs to expel terrorists from our land and to reliably protect our people from any Russian escalation plans.
I am sure that our warriors will have these weapons and equipment at the front. Very soon.
Today, I met with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the European Green Deal - for the renewal of European energy life on the basis of modern "green" energy. Such renewal is our goal as well, and it is a security goal. Modern and "green" energy for Ukraine, the use of renewable energy sources will significantly strengthen our resilience against any aggressive ambitions of Russia aimed at our and European energy sector.
We are also preparing for important events in our political relations with the European Union - for the EU-Ukraine Summit, for further institutional rapprochement of our state, our state system and the EU system, as well as for the beginning of membership negotiations. This is one of our most important tasks. I am grateful to everyone who brings the implementation of this task closer with their work.
I thank each and everyone who helps our country!
Glory to everyone who works for the victory of Ukrainians!
Glory to all who fight for Ukraine!
Tonight, I have signed decrees awarding our warriors. 573 warriors were awarded state awards. 283 of them - posthumously.
Eternal memory to each and every one who gave life for Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!"