Address by the President to the Participants of the 71st Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

13 October 2025 – 13:36

Thank you so much!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you for your attention to Ukraine and for supporting our people and our country.

And let me praise Slovenia today – it is hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly now. Slovenia has supported us from the start of this war, like other free nations, and we value that. Robert, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your personal engagement. And Marcos, Mr. President of the Assembly, thank you for the invitation today and for your support.

First, a frontline update. This matters because our people have held back another wave of Russian attacks in Sumy and Donetsk regions. And that shows again – Russia cannot achieve its goals when our unity generates enough support.

Russia has failed many times to carry out Putin’s order to take Donbas. They keep delaying this senseless goal.

In summer, they told the United States of America and others they would achieve it in a few months – by October or November. Instead, it is our troops who are pushing forward now. Our results are possible because we no longer face the big shortages of regular weapons we had before. Some items are still missing, but we are working hard to ramp up our industry so it can supply more. I want to stress – we are steadily increasing production of our own weapons. More than 40% of the weapons on the front now are made in Ukraine. But every package of military aid from your countries still matters.

And please keep supporting us so we can keep the Russians on the back foot. The worse things are for Russia at the front, the greater the internal pressure on Putin to negotiate seriously.

Second point.

To cover up their failures on the ground, Russia has started a new wave of air terror against Ukraine – against our cities and civilian infrastructure. Their main targets are our energy systems. Every day, every night, Russian missiles and drones hit power plants and transmission lines. And this is a brutal attack on normal life, and it is dangerous. To defend against it, we need systems and missiles – air defense systems – we cannot fully produce in Ukraine. Yes, we have started making interceptor drones to stop “shaheds,” and we have mobile strike groups and aircraft. But Russian strikes are mixed and use many cruise and ballistic missiles. So the systems like Patriot, NASAMS, SapmT and others are absolutely vital. We are talking to everyone who can help with air defense systems and with missiles. Before winter, Putin hopes to use this terror to break our resistance. We must not let that happen.

So I urge you to advocate in your parliaments and governments for stronger air defenses and the missiles we need. And the decisions are needed in the coming weeks – on both systems and missiles. Russia must learn it cannot terrorize any country with impunity.

Yesterday, I spoke with President Trump for the second time in two days. We went through details — air defense, Patriot systems, Tomahawks, the energy equipment we need, and the need to stop partners buying Russian oil. Even if Hungarian guys claim it helps their election chances, in the long run, it undermines their country’s security and Europe’s – for Putin, every billion matters. You cannot be part of the free world and at the same time fund those who want to destroy it. We also discussed the PURL program. This program helps us buy American weapons, including missiles for Patriots, and it helps convince the U.S. administration that America’s alliance with Europe and other NATO partners matters. I thank the countries that have already joined this program PURL – the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, the Baltic states, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Iceland. And I thank Slovenia as well for its decision to join. Thank you! It’s important that the pledged contributions arrive and are used quickly – they save lives. Some funds have not come yet. And we hope other Allies will join the PURL program – it will help.

Air terror is Putin’s last move. We must stop it. Deny him victories on the ground and in the sky – then real diplomacy becomes possible.

There are delegations from almost 50 countries here – from Europe, the whole Alliance, the Middle East, and others, other regions. This matters. We now see that the war in the Middle East is finally ending – after so many victims, there is a real chance for peace. It was difficult, but it is happening. Russia’s war in Europe remains the biggest source of global instability. And it depends on all of you whether this war will end too. Putin can be forced into peace – just like any other terrorist. Even Hamas is now preparing to release hostages. If that is possible, then Putin can also be forced to restore peace.

One more thing. Please do not ease sanctions on Russia – strengthen them.

Sanctions limit Russia’s war machine. We also need pressure on those in your countries who continue to supply critical components for Russian drones and missiles. No Russian missile or drone would fly without parts from other countries. This is not only China and Taiwan – some components still come from European countries, and from others around the world who still cooperate with Russia’s manufacturers of death. Our team can provide all the facts, and we are ready to share any information you need. Please take this up in your governments.

By stopping Russia now, you are not only helping us protect our lives – you are helping yourselves. And you spare your leaders from having to do what I do – appeal to the world for help if Russian drones, missiles, and soldiers become a threat to you. Russia must lose.

And on that basis, we must build a real system of guaranteed security – one that does not depend on shifting geopolitics or election moods. Dozens of countries are already part of this project – 35 countries in our Coalition of the Willing. Please support it at every level – in your parliaments, in your media, and through quiet diplomacy. Security must be guaranteed, and when it works for us, it will work for every country that needs protection.

Thank you.

Glory to Ukraine!

Georgia:

As protests in Georgia persist, Georgian Dream tightens the law:

Covering your face, blocking roads, or setting up protest structures can now mean 15–20 days in jail.
Repeat it within a year, and it’s a criminal offense — up to 1 year, or 2 years for multiple “offenses.”

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM

A REPEATED “offense” of covering one’s face during a protest, or closing the road, will result in a CRIMINAL imprisonment of up to 1 year.

The first-time “offense” is administrative detention for 15-20 days.

Protesting without a face cover is a USD 1,800 fine each time. 1/2

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM

Can you imagine just how much the Georgian Dream is uncomfortable with protests?

#GeorgiaProtests #TerrorinGeorgia 2/2.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM

JUST IN: The Georgian Dream prepares legislation to enable the Constitutional Court to bar persons from registering political parties, being members of political parties, running in elections, and holding official positions. 1/2

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM

This is in addition to their plans to outright ban all democratic parties as entities.

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests 2/2.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM

So, top propaganda media was off for 45 minutes and the State Security is investigating it under the “sabotage” clause.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM

Ivanishvili is the most sophisticated Russian proxy dictatorship.

He said on April 29, 2024, that he was neither Shevardnadze (to step down over popular unrest), nor Yanukovych (to allow himself stupid mistakes that would get him toppled).

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:35 PM

The EU:

We must learn from Ukraine. Ukraine air defences take down 80% of targets.

Ukrainian drones stopped Russian advance on land and in the Black Sea, and devastated the Russian strategic bomber fleet. Ukraine shows besides tech we need integrated command & a new warfare ecosystem.

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— Andrius Kubilius (@andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu) October 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM

The UK:

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 7:29 AM

The man who bribed Gill – Oleh Voloshyn – is part of a much wider network of pro-Russian actors.

He worked with this guy, an FSB agent, who I’ve been fascinated by for years,

My investigation for @thenerve.news shows how Gill was a pawn in a Kremlin operation that spanned both Europe & US
2/

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— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 7:40 AM

From The Nerve:

Two weeks ago, Nathan Gill, an ex-MEP and former leader of Nigel Farage’s Reform party in Wales, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery.

Gill has admitted to taking financial inducements to make speeches and statements that advanced Putin’s interests in Ukraine from Oleh Voloshyn, a man the US government describes as an “FSB pawn”. Gill will be sentenced in November.

On Friday, campaigning in Caerphilly, where Reform is hoping to win a seat in a Senedd (Welsh national assembly) byelection later this month, Farage was faced with an unusual scenario: uncomfortable questions. In response to BBC reporters, he said he was “shocked”. Gill was, as far as he knew, a “God-fearing Christian”.

The BBC’s report continues: “Asked if he knew about Gill making pro-Russian statements, Farage said: ‘I didn’t know anything about it.’”

To be fair to Farage, you can understand his confusion. Gill’s pro-Kremlin speeches are almost indistinguishable from those made by any number of other Ukip, Brexit party or now Reform politicians, including Nigel Farage. In the EU parliament in 2014, for example, Farage described Ukraine’s popular uprising against a pro-Russian government as “a coup d’etat”. And even after Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was spouting off about the EU’s responsibility for “poking the Russian bear”.

There’s no suggestion that Farage has taken any money from Russian sources; the intention here is to point out that there has been a lack of journalistic curiosity about a longstanding ideological alignment between Reform / Ukip and Putin’s government. And this lack of media curiosity continues even now there is cold, hard evidence of a financial channel from the Kremlin to a British politician, Gill, all while the UK government has repeatedly refused to act on evidence of Russia’s years-long campaign to infiltrate and influence UK politics.

Even the most cursory review of the facts reveals that Gill was part of a much bigger network – one responsible for subverting and destabilising democracies on two continents. I came home late on the day that the news about the charges against Gill broke in February, and it was a matter of minutes’ online research at my kitchen table to see how intimately connected he was to Russian intelligence operations against the US government and across Europe.

At that point, Gill had been charged and reporting restrictions were in place. I posted one photo of Farage with Ukrainian politician Oleh Voloshyn’s wife online and left it at that.

Now, however, these facts can be reported. Facts about the man who was charged alongside Gill: Voloshyn, who Gill now admits paid him to make pro-Russian statements.

Voloshyn is not some small-time two-bit player. WhatsApp messages disclosed in court revealed Gill’s role in promoting a Ukraine “peace plan” advanced by one of Putin’s closest allies. Last week, Byline Times mapped these connections and Farage’s meetings with Voloshyn’s wife in the European parliament.

The Nerve can reveal that Voloshyn is also intimately connected to efforts to destabilise the US.

In 2022, the US government sanctioned Voloshyn. The charge sheet states that he “worked with Russian actors to undermine Ukrainian government officials and advocate on behalf of Russia”. But it then goes beyond that, stating: “Voloshyn also worked with … Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national with ties to Russian intelligence who was sanctioned for attempts to influence the US 2020 presidential election, to coordinate passing on information to influence US elections at the behest of Russia.”

Since 2016, when I began investigating Russia’s links to key political figures in the US and UK, I have carried an entire Marvel-like universe of interconnected characters in my head. Yet it’s amazing how often some of them keep popping back up. Konstantin Kilimnik is one of those.

After sanctioning Kilimnik in 2021, the US government offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. At that point he had returned to Moscow. And yet here he is again, in 2025. This time, two degrees of separation from my hometown, Cardiff, in Wales, in apparent ideological lockstep with the man now known to have bribed a British politician.

Because before he was an MEP, Nathan Gill was a member of the Senedd, the Welsh national assembly. In 2016, Ukip recorded an unexpected success in the elections, gaining seven seats. And I paid a visit to Cardiff to investigate how a political party rooted in English nationalism had made such dramatic inroads in Wales.

I tried to interview Gill, but he refused to talk to me. He ignored multiple emails. Just months later, I would embark on an investigation into Brexit, Trump and the data firm Cambridge Analytica. What I could never have predicted is that, nine years on, Gill and that story would crash directly into one other.

It’s hard to overstate Kilimnik’s importance in the various US investigations into Trump’s relationship to the Kremlin. This isn’t speculation: it’s all set down in a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report. That report details how the Trump campaign passed sensitive campaign polling data to a Russian intelligence agent: Konstantin Kilimnik. And the data? It came from Cambridge Analytica.

It was data that would have been a vital asset for any online influence campaign. In 2019, I took part in a panel talk in Los Angeles with Adam Schiff, the Democratic senator from California who was then chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He called the passing of data from the Trump campaign to Kilimnik the closest evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

More at the link.

Kilimnik was/is Paul Manafort’s handler.

The US:

NEWS: President Trump plans to welcome President Zelenskyy in Washington on Friday, three people familiar with the plans tell me. This comes after two phone calls between the presidents last weekend during which they discussed Tomahawk missile sales and how to end Russia’s war.

— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.ft.com) October 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM

From The Financial Times:

US President Donald Trump will welcome his Ukrainian counterpart to Washington on Friday for talks about how they can force Russia’s Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, including through the possibility of supplying American-made Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The meeting will be Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s third with the US president at the White House since Trump returned to office in January.

Trump and Zelenskyy held phone calls over the weekend, during which they discussed the possibility of Nato allies buying Tomahawk missiles for Kyiv — a long-range weapon that would extend Ukraine’s strike capability as far as Moscow and beyond — and how to bring an end to Russia’s full-scale war.

Tomahawk missiles have been atop Ukraine’s wish list of weapons since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Trump has said that he is considering selling an unspecified number of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine but that he needs to hear more about how Kyiv plans to use them, two people briefed on the president’s calls told the Financial Times.

Zelenskyy confirmed the upcoming meeting with Trump on Monday evening.

He said he shared with Trump a “vision” of how many Tomahawk missiles Ukraine would need.

A Ukrainian official said Kyiv believed Trump was closer than ever to supplying the missiles but cautioned that the US president was clear that he had not yet come to a decision.

Although Trump and Zelenskyy clashed badly in the Oval Office in February, relations between the two have improved markedly over the summer, as the US president has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin’s refusal to end the war in Ukraine.

People familiar with Trump’s discussions with Zelenskyy said that his about-face stems from growing frustration with Putin.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters the US might send Ukraine Tomahawk missiles if Putin did not come to a settlement.

“I might say: ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’,” Trump said, adding he wanted to speak to Putin before deciding.

“The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that.”

Putin has previously warned the US against providing Kyiv with Tomahawks, saying it would be a major escalation between Washington and Moscow.

If Trump decided to sell the weapons to Nato allies who would then give them to Ukraine, it would mark the most significant military support by the US president, and in stark contrast to his previous position.

More at the link.

I don’t expect anything to come out of this. The Trump administration hasn’t provided any military aid in months. Everything is either being purchased by EU member states and provided to Ukraine or being purchased by Ukraine for itself.

“We gave them nothing but we gave them respect”

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— Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 (@reshetz.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 11:44 PM

I miss announcements of new US aid packages to Ukraine.

— Dakota (@dakota.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 11:54 PM

Back to Ukraine.

Kharkiv:

Russia struck Kharkiv with 2 glide bombs a little earlier tonight. There are at least 3 injured people, a fire, and several areas of the city without electricity.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM

Tonight, russia struck Kharkiv with three aerial bombs, one of which hit the grounds of a hospital. Three districts of the city are partially without electricity.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Russia struck Kharkiv’s city hospital with a glide bomb

At least 4 people were injured by shards of glass

Many of the hospital’s patients are immobile. Police are helping with their evacuation. Imagine the terror of being bombed and unable to move, unable to protect yourself!

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM

Murderous bastards

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM

At least six people were injured by flying glass after Russia struck the grounds of a hospital in Kharkiv. Around 10 p.m., Russian forces launched three guided aerial bombs at the city. One hit an outbuilding near the medical facility.

Windows and doors were blown out in the hospital wings,

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

where over a hundred patients were being treated—many of them with diabetes. They were immediately moved from their wards to a shelter, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, who spoke from the scene.- Suspilne news reports.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

This morning, russia attacked central Kharkiv with a drone, damaging a dormitory. The city’s Mayor says the drone’s type remains unidentified.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM

Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

A couple was killed in their car when a russian drone struck them as they drove through the Polohy district in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:54 AM

Chernihiv Oblast:

Russia killed one person and injured another in a drone strike on Chernihiv region.

Their drone hit a local store, sparking a fire.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:53 AM

Russian occupied Crimea:

Feodosiya this morning 🫠

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:13 AM

Feodosiya oil depot keeps burning after last night’s attack 🔥

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM

Occupied Feodosiya is very warm this time of the year 🔥

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM

From Hromadske:

Drones struck an oil depot in Russian-occupied Feodosia overnight, igniting a massive blaze, Russian-installed occupation leader of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov reported.

Aksyonov said there were no casualties from the attack and that air defenses downed 20 drones over Crimea.

The monitoring project Crimean Wind also reported a fire at the depot.

More at the link.

A double rainbow and a still-burning Russian oil depot in Feodosia

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 9:01 AM

The Pokrovsk front, Donetsk Oblast:

❗️/1. After a long pause, the Russians continue to send heavy columns of armored vehicles to assault the front.

Oct 13 — Dobropillia (Ocheretyne axis):
Russians launched another mechanized assault with 16 heavy armored vehicles ( on positions in the area of responsibility of Azov

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

/2. Results of Ukraine’s defense:
• Destroyed/damaged: 9 IFVs, 4 APCs, 3 tanks, 3 motorcycles.
• Personnel losses: at least 78 Russians KIA.

Assaults moved toward Myrnohrad and Razine, main effort on Shakhove. Tactics: motorcycle groups in the first wave, then armor with infantry on board;

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

/3. Thanks to pre-laid minefields and coordinated actions by Ukrainian artillery, National Guard units and UAV crews, the assault was repelled.

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

Kherson Oblast:

Compilation of drone strikes on the Russian boats with infantry trying to cross Dnipro river, Kherson region.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:23 AM

The Zaporizhzhia front:

The situation of Russian forces on the Zaporizhzhia front. The house occupied by the Russian troops is on fire, but even in such critical moments, they don’t forget to record video reports.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 11:53 AM

Sumy Oblast:

Frontline roads in Ukraine’s Sumy region. The burned-out cars are the result of FPV drone attacks on fiber-optic lines, against which electronic-warfare systems don’t work.

The only effective way to counter them is shotgun shooters who constantly watch the sky.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.

Ukrainian dog and cat sharing a meal from the Hachiko team today. Displaced by war, but still so well behaved!

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— Nate Mook (@natemook.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 7:51 PM

Open thread!