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Thank you so much, and dear Boris and dear Wes, thank you for convening this, it is now a 36th, meeting of the UDCG. And dear Yevhenii, welcome to your first meeting in this format, and good luck. Ukraine's fight shapes the entire Euro-Atlantic security environment. It directly impacts, as we all know, on our own security, and as we work on modernising the Alliance and building a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO, we must continue to support Ukraine's security and help them defend from Russia's brutal attacks. That means supporting Ukraine with the utmost urgency. And here, let me say that delays simply cost human lives.

Today, the number of civilians killed is the highest recorded since May 2022, so right at the beginning of this terrible war. Today, I will be urging all nations to step up their support. Allies, as we know, pledged 70 billion euros in Ankara, and this will require more bilateral support to achieve. Nations must dig deeper. We do not have a choice, I believe.

A detailed package of priority requirements is in front of you. It's air defence, Ukrainian drones, extended range ammunition. I also want to make clear that the PURL mechanism, so US weaponry paid for by NATO Allies and partners, continues. It continues to flow critical equipment, including air defence, into Ukraine, and this is uninterrupted, and absolutely essential in helping Ukraine to defend its cities and to hold the front line.

I do want to highlight that over the past year, Allies have now allocated 10 billion dollars to PURL and US Foreign Military Sales for Ukraine. This is crucial and to be warmly welcomed, and includes 3.5 billion dollars from the Ukraine Support Loan. This is, I believe, a tangible sign of EU-NATO cooperation in support of Ukraine, and also another example of Europe stepping up. But again, we must continue also when it comes to the bilateral PURL funding going forward.

Our collective support will enable Ukraine to seize, let's say, the opportunities it is creating now across all fronts, and to defend itself in the skies. We are seeing Russia adapt. We see more North Korean missiles, we see jet-powered drones. So Ukraine needs our support to tackle these old and new challenges, and with that I look forward to hearing all your pledges today to help Ukraine.