President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed our nation and spoke about the beginning of the occupiers' advance in Donbas and the development of a state reconstruction plan.

"Ukrainians! Ukrainian women!

Our defenders!

The 54th day of our defense against Russian aggression is coming to an end. The Russian army continues its pace of using rockets against Ukraine, although it should already have realized that it will be extremely difficult for them to replenish their rocket stock under the current sanctions. Without imports, they cannot even do this. And when all backdoors used to circumvent sanctions are closed and stricter sanction restrictions are imposed, restoring Russia's missile potential will be unrealistic. That is, Russian missile strikes only lead to one thing — the self-demilitarization of the Russian Federation.

A similar process is happening with other Russian weapons as well. Producing new artillery, aircraft, new helicopters, cruisers under sanctions will be an impossible task for Russia.

None of the missile strikes have changed anything fundamentally for Russia. And if we consider them all together, then the conclusion is clear — it's a strategic futility.

Today's strikes on Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and any other Russian attacks mean only one thing: We, the world, and history will take much more from Russia than its missiles have taken from Ukraine. Every lost life is an argument for future generations to view Russia exclusively as a threat. And infrastructure can be restored. And we will definitely do it.

On the eastern and southern parts of our country, occupiers are trying lately to attack more strategically than before. They press, look for weak spots in our defense to find and enter with their main forces...

Perhaps Russian generals, who used to not count any losses, have killed so many Russian soldiers that they now have to be more careful because there will be no one left to advance.

However, do not expect this to help them. It's just a matter of time — until all the territory of our country is liberated. We can already state that Russian troops have begun their battle for Donbas, which they had long been preparing for. A very significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated for this advance.

No matter how many soldiers they gather there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day. Nothing Ukrainian will be given up, and we don't need anything foreign.

And I am grateful to all our fighters, to all the heroic cities of Donbas, Mariupol, as well as the cities in Kharkiv region that are holding on. That are defending the fate of the entire country by restraining the aggressors. Rubizhne, Popasna, Zolote, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Kramatorsk and all others who have been with Ukraine throughout these years and forever.

I spoke with President of the Republic of Lithuania and our country's friend Gitanas Nausėda. I informed him about the situation in the conflict zones and especially — about the situation in Mariupol. We are coordinating our actions to increase Russia's responsibility for the war.

I also spoke with Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Croatia. About the threats created by Russia to free navigation in the Black Sea, about our cooperation at the EU level, about ongoing support for Ukraine and working on solutions for restoring peace.

Today I held an important meeting regarding post-war reconstruction and development of Ukraine. Already now we need to thoroughly work out everything so that when the war ends, we are fully prepared.

We are developing a comprehensive plan that includes rebuilding what was destroyed, modernizing state structures, and accelerating Ukraine's development as much as possible. It's not just about the volume of physical work — building housing, restoring enterprises, establishing new businesses that will work on infrastructure restoration and economic relations in our country. But also about rethinking how our country will develop further. Which industries can become the basis for growth after the war. What decisions and resources are needed to increase the level of processing in Ukraine instead of trading raw materials as it was before. Which cities will be locomotives of economic and technological growth, pulling along surrounding areas.

As of now, if you carefully listen to all discussions taking place in our country at different levels about post-war reconstruction, the main theme is actually — money. What financial package is needed for recovery after war? But I always emphasize that money is not the foundation for a country's development. Ideas and people are the foundation. And once you have ideas and our people, then you start seeing what kind of funds are needed.

We need to clearly understand how we see this or that sector of our economy, which direction we expect from this or that city, what benefit an institution can bring to the country as a whole.

Of course, for small and medium businesses, we must provide the most comfortable and free environment. In terms of taxes and administrative relations. Of course, digitalization is our top priority. Also, security is a top priority for us — defense potential needs to be at a new level. Of course, judicial, anti-corruption reforms and other important reforms need to bear fruit.

But all this should work towards a clear vision of what Ukraine will be like. What it will look like one year after the war, five years after the war, ten, twenty years later. What exactly will be important for our people. What exactly will be important for global business. How many jobs and in which sectors will be available to Ukrainians.

An integral part of such a strategic vision is Ukraine's accession to the European Union. And in this context, an historic event took place today — we are going through one of the steps before joining the EU. We have submitted our responses to the questionnaire received from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy.

Each country that joined the EU went through such a procedure with a questionnaire. The only difference is that it took them years, while for us — slightly more than a week. We will soon submit the second part of our responses. And we expect a quick European decision in response.

The status of candidate for EU membership opens unprecedented opportunities in our history for Ukraine's reconstruction and modernization.

We are conducting relevant talks on supporting our country rebuilding program both bilaterally with countries, and with international financial institutions. Of course, we will involve global business as much as possible. But we are primarily interested in jobs and added value being created in Ukraine. So localization will remain an important process for us.

Tonight I signed the traditional decree on awarding our heroes. State awards were awarded to 192 members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 24 of them posthumously.

Eternal glory to all who fell for Ukraine!

Eternal glory to every one of our defenders, every one of our defenders!

Glory to Ukraine!»