At the meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic missions "Military Diplomacy: Resilience, Weapons, Victory", President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about the main tasks for Ukrainian diplomats.
"Your first task is to promote courage. I count on you to continue to persuade your partners to support Ukraine to the fullest extent possible. To support in such a way that there is no shortage of such courage in anything. Such deficits are the reason why Putin is still looking for ways to prolong the war rather than peace," the President stressed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined the main decisions necessary for peace on Ukrainian soil.
The first is range.
"If our partners had lifted all existing restrictions on the use of weapons on the territory of Russia, we would not have needed to physically enter Kursk Region to protect our Ukrainian citizens in the border area and destroy the Russian potential for aggression," the Head of State said.
He stressed that the format of Putin's response to the operation in Kursk proves that there is no rational reason to prevent Ukraine from being truly strong and truly long-range. And the situation in the Donetsk Region is such that further delay by our partners in terms of long-range capability is de facto becoming perhaps the most significant pillar of Russia's offensive potential.
The second is sanctions.
"Just as buffer zones in ground combat are dynamic structures that ensure the clearance of certain areas from the enemy's military presence, and when the territory is clear, the targets shift, so the sanctions shield must be able to respond to existing threats, to respond here and now and to their renewal. The sanctions already imposed by the world really restrict the economy and limit the capabilities of the Putin regime," the President of Ukraine said.
At the same time, Russia's shadowy tanker fleet has become a new challenge, and Russia's relations with regimes such as those in Pyongyang and Tehran create new sources of threats, not only for us in Ukraine.
In particular, Russia's nuclear industry is still used by Moscow to save its spheres of influence in the world, and the Russian banking sector still has ties to the world.
The third is long-term agreements with partners.
"You all know that we are capable of producing much more drones than we can finance today with our domestic production. We are also constantly increasing the production of Ukrainian artillery. We are working on the production of shells. And all this is what you have to talk about with partners - you have to agree on investments," Zelenskyy said.
He reminded that the budget processes in partner countries will continue now, and they need to be convinced of the need for further investment in our common security. It is also important to pay sufficient attention to timely logistics so that the announced support packages for Ukraine are felt promptly enough at the front and in the formation of our army reserves. Unfortunately, the logistics are slowed down now, this is a fact, and this applies, in particular, to agreements with our leading partners, starting with the United States.
"Another of your tasks is to involve governments, international organisations, regional leaders from the countries where you work, and companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine. This is one of the key criteria for determining the effectiveness of each ambassador. Ukraine needs specific projects from each country of your work," the President noted.
The fourth is the Ukrainian global community.
"Just as any state has a geographical centre, the Ukrainian state should be a real centre for our already global Ukrainian people. Our people are in all parts of the world, in most countries. These are diasporas of different times, different waves of migration. Somewhere in the world there are more Ukrainians, somewhere there are fewer, but we must understand our nation as a global one, because it is a fact. Therefore, we must modernise our state institutions so that they meet the modern task of uniting all Ukrainians around Ukraine, around the defence of Ukraine, around strengthening our position in the world," the Head of State said.
He clarified that to do this, Ukraine must strengthen its institutional presence in partner countries, and this will be done in two ways.
New consulates will be opened, in particular in Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France.
We are also preparing to launch a new institution that will provide sufficient strength for global Ukrainian unity. In fact, this should be the Ministry of Ukrainian Unity and Countering Russian Influence on Ukrainians, especially abroad.
The fifth task is the Peace Summit.
"We are now preparing the second Peace Summit and must work to ensure that it takes place this year. We have to do everything for this. We must continue to expand the circle of support for the communiqué of the inaugural first Summit," the President stressed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on diplomats to work more actively with the media and think tanks of different countries to ensure that our vision of a just peace is understood.