Володимир Зеленський звернувся до українців наприкінці першого дня атак Росії. / Address by the President to Ukrainians at the end of the first day of Russia's attacks | 25.02.2022

Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Men and women, our defenders! You are brilliantly defending the country from one of the most powerful countries in the world. Today Russia attacked the entire territory of our state. And today our defenders have done a lot. They defended almost the entire territory of Ukraine, which suffered direct blows. They regain the one that the enemy managed to occupy. For example, Hostomel near Kyiv. This gives more confidence to the capital. According to preliminary data, unfortunately, we have lost 137 of our heroes today - our citizens. 10 of them are officers. 316 are wounded. On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically. But did not give up. All of them will be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. May the memory of those who gave their lives for Ukraine live forever. I am grateful to everyone who saves people right now and helps maintain order in the state. The enemy strikes not only at military facilities, as it claims, but also at civilians. They kill people and turn peaceful cities into military targets. This is vile and will never be forgiven. I know that a lot of fakes are being produced now. In particular, that I allegedly left Kyiv. I stay in the capital, I stay with my people. During the day, I held dozens of international talks, directly managed our country. And I will stay in the capital. My family is also in Ukraine. My children are also in Ukraine. My family is not traitors. They are the citizens of Ukraine. But I have no right to say where they are now. According to our information, the enemy marked me as the number one target. My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the Head of State. We also have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv. That's why I am asking Kyivites very much: be careful, follow the rules of curfew. I remain in the government quarter together with all those who are necessary for the work of the central government. No matter how many conversations I had with the leaders of different countries today, I heard a few things. The first is that we are supported. And I am grateful to each state that helps Ukraine concretely, not just in words. But there is another - we are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly - I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine's accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid. Today we heard from Moscow that they still want to talk. They want to talk about Ukraine's neutral status. I tell all the partners of our state: now is an important moment - the fate of our country is being decided. I ask them: are you with us? They answer that they are with us. But they are not ready to take us to the Alliance. Today, I asked the twenty-seven leaders of Europe whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I asked directly. Everyone is afraid. They do not answer. And we are not afraid of anything. We are not afraid to defend our state. We are not afraid of Russia. We are not afraid to talk to Russia. We are not afraid to say everything about security guarantees for our state. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status. We are not in NATO now. But the main thing - what security guarantees will we have? And what specific countries will give them? We need to talk about the end of this invasion. We need to talk about a ceasefire. But now the fate of the country depends entirely on our army, on our heroes, our security forces, all our defenders. And on our people, your wisdom and the great support of all friends of our country. Glory to Ukraine!