Dear Ambassador Ischinger,
Dear President Gribauskaite,
President Niinistö,
President Plevneliev,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I arrived here today with very vivid memories of this conference from last year.
It was just before Ukraine was to pay the bitter price of over hundred innocent lives lost on Maidan for the right to become a democratic and European state.
I had felt such pride for my country here in Munich.
For 50 times this gathering has recognized that commitment, responsibility and values are the fundamental cornerstones of global peace and security.
I felt so proud then, because Ukraine had reminded Europe and the world that democracy and values are worth fighting for.
That was a time when we believed in international law.
The confidence that territorial claims, aggression, a right of might belonged to the past, at least in Europe.
But now, this confidence has been shattered.
The year 2014 rolled the time back – decades, if not centuries.
Our neighbor has breached international law and annexed a part of our territory.
Today, a formerly strategic partner is waging a hybrid war against a sovereign state, a co-founder of the United Nations.
Mounds of lies and propaganda have been heaped into a wall of hatred, erected between two once friendly nations.
The border routes, once used for transporting goods and exchange of visitors and friends, are now swarming with Russian tanks, armed personnel carriers, artillery, multiple-rocket-launchers and ammunition.
How many evidences does the world still need to recognize an obvious fact – there is a foreign military equipment, mercenaries, Russian military coaches and regular troops.
This last year has become a spiraling tragedy for my nation.
The death toll of the Ukrainian soldiers defending their land from aggressor is constantly rising.
Here there is the passports and documents of Russian soldiers and officers who came to us and “got lost” their way. This is the best evidence of the presence of Russian troops which killing Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians.
Thousands of people have been killed since last April.
More than ten thousands wounded.
Hundreds and thousands of civilians have become innocent victims of terrorists financed, trained and equipped by Russia.
298 innocent victims of the downed MH17 flight; 16 killed in a bus shelled in Volnovakha, 8 dead in a trolleybus shelled in Donetsk; 31 civilian casualties of Mariupol shelling by Russian-provided rockets.
The children of Debaltseve will never be able to get rid of the memories of the nights they spent in freezing basements hiding from the explosions and the blasts.
One million internally displaced persons have escaped the horrors of the war. But the trauma they have suffered will never be healed.
I would like to thank our international partners for their humanitarian support helping these people to start life from a new slate.
Nadia Savchenko has spent 237 days in a Russian prison and is now slowly dying in the 57th day of a hunger strike against her illegal abduction and imprisonment.
This is all highly reminiscent of the Soviet repressive machine now applied to break the courage of a Ukrainian woman – an officer of the Ukrainian Air Force.
We say “free Nadiya”, but we mean that every single Ukrainian, who was captured and tortured just for defending their land must be released.
The war exhausts Ukraine daily affecting the lives of its citizens. We have lost 20 percent of our industrial output. 10 percent of industrial infrastructure is in ruins.
The fighting in Donbas threatens a technological disaster on a global scale. One of the biggest nuclear power plants in Europe, Energodar, is just 280 kilometers from Mariupol.
Your Excellencies,
The aggression against Ukraine has opened a Pandora’s Box for the international security.
It must be clear that there are no temporary solutions. This conflict must be resolved, not frozen.
It is now clear that if Ukraine does not succeed in restoring peace and its territorial integrity, the revision of borders, spread of terrorism, humanitarian and technological disasters, flexing of nuclear mussels will continue.
It is a pleasure to share this panel with my friends – the Presidents of Bulgaria, Finland, and Lithuania.
If there are not many Finns who still remember Russian aggression, there are many Lithuanians who still mourn their loved ones lost in the fight for their independence against the Kremlin.
And I am sure that the majority of Bulgarians still remember the realities of socialism and would never go back to the Moscow orbit again.
Today Ukraine has to fight