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Let me start by saying thank you for hosting me. This is a real honour. I look forward to the discussion we will have. But let me also acknowledge what happened last night, the terrible attack again on Kyiv and people died. We know that innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure has been hit massively again by Russian attacks on Ukraine and particularly also on Kyiv. The EU delegation has been damaged, and I think this is again evidence to the points you all three made.

Basically the summary of what you said is ‘we cannot be naive about Russia. We cannot be naive about Vladimir Putin.’ And last night is evidence of that.

And therefore I want to thank you. I want to thank Germany for the leadership role you took. First on money. Don't forget, this is staggering. By 2029 Germany will spend over 150 billion Euros on its defence. That is more than doubling of what you spent in 2021 and that's almost four times of what you spent in 2018. And that means that you really take the lead in Europe, and we need that in Europe. You are the second biggest economy in NATO, the biggest economy in Europe. It is crucial that Germany takes that role also when it comes to defence production.

I was yesterday in Unterlüß, where Rheinmetall opened a new factory, a factory working on ammunition. They will produce 350’000 rounds of ammunition a year by 2027, almost fully automated. And this is crucial, because we know that the last two years we have seen a sixfold [of the production] compared to two years ago when it comes to ammunition. Now we have to do this also with other military gear like tanks and jets, etc. So we can do it. This is evidence that we can do it. You can turn the tide when it comes to defence production. Also here, Germany is leading.

And finally, on Ukraine, since Olaf Scholz and now Friedrich Merz, the two last governments in Germany, since the full onslaught started on Ukraine in 2022, you took the leadership role. Next to the US, you spent most on support for Ukraine - practical support, and that is crucial. You help Ukraine to stay in the fight, and that is also something we will discuss today.

Let's hope that all the initiatives the American President is taking will help, I really want to commend him for breaking the deadlock with Putin to start a dialog with solutions. Let's hope this will lead to a durable and lasting peace for Ukraine. But in the meantime we have to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay as strong in the fight as possible, and to bring them to this lasting and durable peace. So again, thank you. That's basically my main message to Germany today. I have not a lot of requests, but I'm here to thank you and also to explain a little bit of what is happening, in my view now with Russia and, of course, within NATO.