President Zelensky’s ‘Ramstein’ Address to Ukraine’s Allies

From the Editors:  President Zelensky delivered a speech at a meeting of Ukraine’s supporters on Jan. 9 at the US air base Ramstein in Germany, the last such gathering of allies in this format before Donald Trump takes office in Washington on Jan. 20. The Ukrainian leader later announced that Ukraine’s Western allies had pledged an additional $2 billion in military assistance.

Ladies and gentlemen! Dear friends!

It’s clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world – just 11 days from now, a time when we have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more, and achieve even greater results together. And I see this as a time of opportunities.

And in almost three years of full-scale war, we’ve shown that when we come and belong together – no one is too small to make a real impact on history. And we’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created – especially since they’re already helping us grow and strengthen what’s basically our shared defense power. No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map. That used to depend on a handful of big capitals, but now it’s on all of us – on how we work together, how ready we are to own our future, and how well we can convince our partners to stand with us. The more determination we show in defending our interests – the more interest our partners, and especially the U.S., will see it’s good to stay on our side.

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Yesterday I held a special meeting with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff. And the focus was on the production and supply of drones for our soldiers, for our army and electronic warfare.

Drones are something that has already changed the nature of war, and the changes are far from over. Today, there is a direct dependence – to stop the advance of the enemy, to stop losing people and territories we need drones. Drones deter the enemy – keep them at the distance. It can be done.

Production of drones in Ukraine is more cost-effective than anywhere else. This year, we in Ukraine want to set a record for the number and quality of drones we produce and get from our partners. And we’re focusing on drones that our brigades need to hold the front lines, and drones essential for ensuring security like maritime drones, and drones made for deep strikes on the enemy’s military facilities and infrastructure in their territory. We’ve already signed a significant number of contracts, with many more still in the works. I urge all of you to get even more actively involved in building up this arsenal of drones. Ukrainians have the most experience in Europe with using drones, and we also have the biggest capacity in Europe to produce drones.

So, first, please invest more in this Ukrainian strength, because after the war it will also be your strength. Second, invest in the talented people in your countries who can help make all of us stronger in the drone field.

Next.

With most of the countries represented here, we already have bilateral security cooperation. I’m grateful to those countries with which we’ve signed bilateral security agreements – 27 of them as of today. And fully implementing these agreements is a real contribution not only to our security in Ukraine but also to your security.

But we are a bigger number here in Ramstein. Much bigger. Let’s pull our strength together and make such agreements with all the participants. And I’m asking my Minister of Defense to work with the Secretary and with all the ministers to increase the number of these documents, of course, if partners will support this idea. And I know that it will strengthen our frontline, and it will protect, which is very, very important especially in winter, it will protect our energy sector too – not only in Ukraine but also in your lands. It will boost the security programs.

And now we see all the reports with underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. And we all see drone incidents in some countries that are raising serious concerns. We see destabilization in Africa, which threatens Europe with new migration waves. And we’re also learning more about how Russian intelligence paid militants in Afghanistan to target coalition soldiers when your troops were present there – Moscow cashed in to kill your soldiers – American soldiers, NATO countries soldiers. How can this be forgiven or forgotten?

Russia’s hybrid aggression and sabotage against the entire Western world is ongoing, and only by keeping and strengthening our cooperation, by boosting our agreements and coalitions can we truly protect the normal lives of people in all our countries.

I do everything I can to end this war with dignity for Ukraine and all of Europe this year. And I know I can count on your support. And we all must remember that ending the war is our shared goal – our, not Russia’s, it’s what Ukrainians, Europeans, Americans, and many of our global partners want. Countries as far apart as Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina also wish us peace. But here is the thing – Putin is not just holding on to his investments in aggression, he’s doubling down. He’s even started, basically, hiring soldiers from North Korea to keep this war going. North Korea studies modern warfare. They do not value their people, and we know it, they lose them – 4,000 as for today. But Pyongyang gets experience cheap to re-export the war, maybe there in the Indo-Pacific.

At the same time, this collusion with North Korea shows Putin’s weakness – because no ruler in Moscow would ever lower themselves to beg in Pyongyang unless facing critical problems. So, we’ve got to keep the pressure on Russia. That’s what ensures our soldiers get the weapons they need. That’s what sanctions are for. And I’m asking all our partners – especially the U.S. and the EU – to turn up the heat on Russia’s energy sector. Sanctions are needed against every element of Russian energy, and the Russian tanker fleet must be stopped. Russia’s war budget for 2025 is 25% bigger than last year’s. If we want to stop the killing, we’ve got to cut off Putin’s cash flow. Putin will start thinking about peace only when his inner circle tells him he’s out of money.

And one more thing. The key to resisting aggression is motivation. And we know it. Motivation to risk your life to save your country. But motivation needs fuel, and the best fuel is success – I mean successful actions, successful agreements. When our troops can shoot down Russian missiles, including ballistic ones, and keep Russian aircraft away from Ukraine, it provides the motivation we desperately need. And we’ve had talks with the U.S. about licensing the production of air defense systems and missiles here in Ukraine, and this could become a significant part of our security guarantees – and it’s absolutely doable.

But we must keep in mind that the last NATO Summit promises haven’t been fulfilled yet – we need, very much, we need the air defense systems you gave us already, thank you so much, and we need very much the systems you promised us. You’ve seen what happened yesterday in our city of Zaporizhzhia – Russia’s bombs killed 13 people, 112 were injured. That was just one day, just one attack, one strike from the air. We must stop Russia’s terror. And you can do it. And we ask for urgent deliveries of air defense systems.

We also need to deliver on all our agreements for frontline supplies. And I want to thank again every country for helping us with artillery, armored vehicles, and everything else we need. Our men and women on the frontlines need to feel that the world has their back, and nothing proves that better than making sure they have what they need to hit back at Russian attacks.

Last year France came up with the idea to deploy partners’ contingents in Ukraine, and you know it – to make peace closer. And we all understand – as for today, Putin’s aims remain unchanged. And he wants to totally destroy Ukraine – and to break all of us and you too. That’s why our goal is to find as many instruments as possible to force Russia into peace. I believe that such deployment of partners’ contingents is one of the best instruments. Let’s be more practical in making it possible. And we’ve heard signals also from some of our partners, from the United Kingdom – in support of this.

And we must be brave, and we must propose truly strong instruments. Take, for example, the Kursk operation – it’s one of our wins, I think one of the biggest wins, not just last year, but throughout the war. Russia had to pull almost 60,000 troops off the Ukrainian front to deal with it. And as of this Monday, it’s been five months since our troops have maintained a buffer zone on Russian territory. Many of Russia’s threats and bold claims turned out to be bluffing – especially after Ukrainians moved into the Kursk region. And I’m sure even more of their threats will prove to be bluffs if we all work even harder together to push Russia toward peace.

Thank you for your attention. Thank you, Secretary! Stay confident.

Слава Україні!

See the original on the presidential website here.