Address by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal

Heroic people of Ukraine.

For 15 consecutive days, Europe is suffering from a war being the biggest since World War II.

Yesterday, after bombing a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital in Mariupol, the whole world once again got ascertained that russia is not just an aggressor. Russia is a terrorist state.

Ukraine will win this war! Our main task is

to bring this victory closer.

The whole civilized world, which is now united around Ukraine, is helping us in that. And it's not just about governments of different countries, but also about ordinary people around the world, and about companies that operate around the world.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a $ 13.6 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine. These are funds that will be used to reinforce our army, to provide humanitarian aid and support for Ukrainians. We are grateful to our American friends for such powerful support.

We are just as much grateful to our friends and partner countries all around the world for isolating the russian federation, we are grateful to the companies that left the Russian market as well. We are grateful to the leaders of the European Union for the next package of punitive sanctions against russia. The aggressor felt that the entire world rose against it. And it is only going to get worse.

In the coming days, the European Union will consider granting Ukraine an EU candidate status. This issue will become one of the key determinants in the history of Europe and the European Union for years to come. We are, definitely, looking forward to this from our European partners.

That is why we appeal not only to European leaders, but also to all citizens of a Greater Europe: support Ukraine now. Ukraine has definitely deserved the right to become a member of the European Union.

The citizens of the EU Member States must speak out so that your governments have no doubt as to what decision they must take.

Together with the whole world, we continue to forge our victory. For this purpose, Ukraine is switching to the war economy.

Energy security and operation of critical infrastructure. Defense-industrial complex. Agro-industrial complex. Logistics. The successful operation of these sectors are also integral components of our victory.

Currently, among the essential topics on the agenda of the Government is organizing a sowing campaign in those regions of our country not affected by active hostilities. Our priority is food crops.

We have intensified our work with agrarians in this direction so that Ukraine can fully satisfied the needs and have the required amount of food. The work of food industry enterprises in the areas currently not being at the forefront must be resumed.

I want to appeal to businesses again. Resume production where possible. Return your staff back to work.

The state, in turn, does its job.

Today the Government has increased the expenditures of the reserve fund of the state budget by UAH 50.8 billion. This will allow the needs of the security and defense sector to be promptly met under martial law.

During March, a UAH 38.3 billion resource has already been allocated for pension payments. In the last two days alone, the Government has financed UAH 13.9 billion for pension payments.

Moreover, today we have approved the procedure for using the already announced eDocument. It can be generated in the Diia application and the portal.

The eDocument will contain all the necessary information and a QR-code for identification. This will help Ukrainians who lost their documents as a result of war to prove their identity if necessary.

Step by step, we will stop the aggressor and liberate the occupied territories. And everyone of us must do the job and exert every effort to bring this day closer.

Glory to Ukrainians! Glory to Ukraine!