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I really want to welcome Mykhailo Fedorov, the new Defence Minister of Ukraine, who has an extremely interesting background, because he was basically in innovation, in technology and he brings all that experience now to this job.

When we first met last week in Kyiv, I was really impressed by how you're combining the defence and what is needed there in the big war fighting effort, but also to bring the newest technology. And I told Mykhailo that NATO will be with Ukraine when it comes to training, when it comes to arms supply, when it comes to making sure that we capture all the lessons. And of course, NATO Allies are working diligently and every day to make sure that the security guarantees are as strong as possible, post a - hopefully soon - ceasefire long term, or even better, a peace deal.

And I was visiting last week Kyiv, and I saw the destruction of one of the heating plants. 1100 big Kyiv apartment buildings, approximately a quarter of a million people living there without heating. So this is what the Russians are trying to do. Hitting the innocent civilians and the civilian infrastructure with absolutely no other reason than to create this fear and chaos. But Ukrainian people cannot be broken. That's what I experienced last week. And I met the soldiers again, and I've seen in their eyes a determination and a fierceness to maintain the fight against the Russians. And the Russians are only making very incremental advances. This is very incremental against high losses. In some months, up to 30,000 Russians dead, not seriously wounded, dead. So these are incredible numbers, and it means that Ukraine is really sustaining the fight.

And then I visited Chernihiv, a couple of hours drive from Kyiv. It was occupied by the Russians for about six weeks in February-March 2022. And I spoke with the people living there who have experienced that and really had to undergo this Russian occupation, which was really terrible. And all the details I will not share with you now, but it was really heartbreaking. And again, also there I saw in their eyes, they will not give up. He will not give up. Ukraine will not give up. So good to have you here today. You are amongst friends.