We Will Implement Everything Necessary to Advance Through Each Chapter of Our Relations with the EU – the Address by the President

25 June 2024 – 22:13

Dear Ukrainians!

Today has been a very eventful day.

We have officially started negotiations on membership with the European Union. This is a historic result. We have been working on it for a long time – and now we have held the first intergovernmental conference, and we will definitely implement everything necessary to advance through each chapter of our relations with the EU and to create a treaty – a treaty of Ukraine’s accession.

The second thing today is our legal battle. There are new warrants from the International Criminal Court for Russian murderers. Shoigu, Gerasimov – your path to The Hague is open. There is also a decision of the European Court of Human Rights on Russia’s responsibility for everything that has been committed in our Crimea against people and against the law. The occupier will be held accountable for that.

The third thing is a just peace for Ukraine, and our steps, aimed at fully restoring security. After the Peace Summit, we already have the eighth participant who signed the Joint Communiqué, and we are only increasing our pressure on Russia for the sake of a fair end to this war. And we are preparing working groups. As early as July, we will have new specifics aimed at achieving peace.

And as promised, we are working to bring all of our people back home, to Ukraine, from Russian captivity. Every single one of them. We do not forget anyone. Today, 90 more Ukrainian families are happy. 90 warriors have been brought back from captivity. Defenders of Azovstal and Mariupol, Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, from different front directions. They are warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Border Guard Service, the Navy. Most of them are privates and sergeants. And we will bring back all the others in the same manner. We seek the truth about everyone – where the person is, what condition they are in, and what it will take to get them back. I thank our exchange team. Yermak, Budanov, Maliuk, Lubinets, Klymenko – thank you guys! I thank the United Arab Emirates for their assistance in making today’s event possible. We continue this work.

I thank everyone who believes, fights, helps and works for Ukraine to achieve such results – in protecting our people, strengthening our state, and bringing us closer to our peace. The peace that Ukrainians deserve!

Glory to Ukraine!

More Ukrainian POWs returned home today!

Another 90 of our people returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity.

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, Territorial Defense Force, marines and border guards are finally back home.

We continue our work to bring everyone home.
Glory to Ukraine! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/TkNgHjybcW

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 25, 2024

Ukrainian soldier cries upon hearing the Ukrainian language.

pic.twitter.com/bGBIPELVaR

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) June 25, 2024

The Czech Republic:

The first shipment of ammunition from our initiative arrived in Ukraine some time ago.

We are doing what it takes.

— Petr Fiala (@P_Fiala) June 25, 2024

I think this might be the first report I’ve seen that the Czech initiative to source, purchase, and deliver 155mm ammunition to Ukraine had actually made its initial delivery.

The stratejik jenius’s advisors have thoughts:

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – Two key advisers to Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine – if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election – that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks.

The United States would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, one of Trump’s national security advisers, said in an interview.

Under the plan drawn up by Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said.

They have presented their strategy to Trump, and the Republican presidential candidate responded favorably, Fleitz added. “I’m not claiming he agreed with it or agreed with every word of it, but we were pleased to get the feedback we did,” he said.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said only statements made by Trump or authorized members of his campaign should be deemed official.

The strategy outlined by Kellogg and Fleitz is the most detailed plan yet by associates of Trump, who has said he could quickly settle the war in Ukraine if he beats President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election, though he has not said how he would do that.

The proposal would mark a big shift in the U.S. position on the war and would face opposition from European allies and within Trump’s own Republican Party.

The Kremlin said any peace plan proposed by a possible future Trump administration would have to reflect the reality on the ground but that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained open to talks.

“The value of any plan lies in the nuances and in taking into account the real state of affairs on the ground,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters.

“President Putin has repeatedly said that Russia has been and remains open to negotiations, taking into account the real state of affairs on the ground,” he said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Tuesday that freezing hostilities at the prevailing front lines would be “strange,” given Russia had violated international law by invading Ukraine.

“Ukraine has an absolutely clear understanding and it is spelled out in the peace formula proposed by President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy, it is clearly stated there – peace can only be fair and peace can only be based on international law,” he told Reuters.

The White House National Security Council said the Biden administration would not force Ukraine into negotiations with Russia.

“President Biden believes that any decisions about negotiations are up to Ukraine,” said NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson.The core elements of the plan were outlined in a publicly available research paper, opens new tab published by the “America First Policy Institute,” a Trump-friendly think tank where Kellogg and Fleitz hold leadership positions.

Kellogg said it would be crucial to get Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table quickly if Trump wins the election.

“We tell the Ukrainians, ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,'” he said. “And you tell Putin, ‘He’s got to come to the table and if you don’t come to the table, then we’ll give Ukrainians everything they need to kill you in the field.'”

According to their research paper, Moscow would also be coaxed to the table with the promise of NATO membership for Ukraine being put off for an extended period.

Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022. Until some gains by Russia in recent months, the front lines barely moved since the end of that year, despite tens of thousands of dead on both sides in relentless trench warfare, the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War Two.

Fleitz said Ukraine need not formally cede territory to Russia under their plan. Still, he said, Ukraine was unlikely to regain effective control of all its territory in the near term.

“Our concern is that this has become a war of attrition that’s going to kill a whole generation of young men,” he said.

A lasting peace in Ukraine would require additional security guarantees for Ukraine, Kellogg and Fleitz said. Fleitz added that “arming Ukraine to the teeth” was likely to be a key element of that.

“President Trump has repeatedly stated that a top priority in his second term will be to quickly negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war,” Trump spokesperson Cheung said.

Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said Trump is not interested in standing up to Putin or defending democracy.

More at the link.

I’m not saying they’re good thoughts.

I’d love to see the faces of Donald Trump and his brilliantly talented advisors the moment they realize Vladimir Putin has just wiped his ass with their “peace plan on Ukraine” having used it to let his military catch the breath and then launch a new offensive on Ukraine with…

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) June 25, 2024

I’d love to see the faces of Donald Trump and his brilliantly talented advisors the moment they realize Vladimir Putin has just wiped his ass with their “peace plan on Ukraine” having used it to let his military catch the breath and then launch a new offensive on Ukraine with renewed vigor.

Sure, what could possibly go wrong with simple demagogic solutions.

Also, the US:

News: The Biden administration is moving toward lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems, per 4 US officials. w/@OrenCNN https://t.co/7wM8iEvIxx

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) June 25, 2024

CNN has the details:

The Biden administration is moving toward lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN, to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems.

The change would mark another significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy, as the US looks for ways to give Ukraine’s military an upper hand against Russia.

The policy is still being worked on by administration officials and has not received final sign-off yet from President Joe Biden, officials said.

“We have not made any decisions and any discussion of this is premature,” said one administration official. “The president is absolutely firm that he will not be sending US troops to Ukraine.”

Once approved, the change would likely be enacted this year, officials said, and would allow the Pentagon to provide contracts to American companies for work inside Ukraine for the first time since Russia invaded in 2022. Officials said they hope it will speed up the maintenance and repairs of weapons systems being used by the Ukrainian military.

Over the last two years, Biden has insisted that all Americans, and particularly US troops, stay far away from the Ukrainian frontlines. The White House has been determined to limit both the danger to Americans and the perception, particularly by Russia, that the US military is engaged in combat there. The State Department has explicitly warned Americans against traveling to Ukraine since 2022.

As a result, US-provided military equipment that has sustained significant damage in combat has had to be transported out of the country to Poland, Romania, or other NATO countries for repairs, a process which takes time. US troops are also available to help the Ukrainians with more routine maintenance and logistics, but only from afar via video chat or secure phone—an arrangement that has come with inherent limitations, since US troops and contractors are not able to work directly on the systems.

Administration officials began to seriously reconsider those restrictions over the last several months, officials said, as Russia continued to make gains on the battlefield and US funding for Ukraine stalled in Congress. Allowing experienced, US government-funded American contractors to maintain a presence in Ukraine means they will be able to help fix damaged, high-value equipment much faster, officials said. One advanced system that officials say will likely require regular maintenance is the F-16 fighter jet, which Ukraine is set to receive later this year.

Companies bidding for the contracts would be required to develop robust risk mitigation plans to mitigate threats to their employees, an official said.

The discussions follow a series of decisions the US has made in recent months to try to help Ukraine beat back the Russians. In late-May, Biden gave Ukraine permission to strike targets inside Russia, near the border with the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, with US weapons—a request the US had repeatedly denied in the past. Last week, that policy appeared to expand once again, when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Ukraine could counterstrike anywhere along the Ukraine-Russia border using US weapons.

Current and former officials familiar with the discussions about deploying contractors to Ukraine emphasized that the policy change will not result in the kind of overwhelming American contractor presence there that existed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, it would likely result in anywhere from a few dozen to a couple hundred contractors working in Ukraine at a time.

Even more from the US:

According to the Associated Press- The U.S. is expected to announce Tuesday it is sending an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine

The upcoming shipment is expected to include munitions for HIMARS. One of the U.S. officials said they could not verify…

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

According to the Associated Press- The U.S. is expected to announce Tuesday it is sending an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine

The upcoming shipment is expected to include munitions for HIMARS. One of the U.S. officials said they could not verify whether this aid package included ATACMS munitions, but said the aid did not include cluster munitions.

The package also includes anti-armor weapons, small arms and grenades and the highly sought-after 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds, among other support.

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-missiles-russia-military-aid-us-10508d1ea26ed047a183a1daea02d773

Here are the details from the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is expected to announce Tuesday it is sending an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine, as Russia accuses Ukraine of using U.S.-provided munitions to strike inside Russia or Russian-held territory, according to two U.S. officials.

The continued flow of U.S. munitions, which will be drawn from existing stockpiles, is intended to help Ukrainian forces repel intensified Russian attacks.

The upcoming shipment is expected to include munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. That system is capable of firing the longer-range missiles from the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which Russia has said would prompt retaliation and risk escalating the conflict. One of the U.S. officials said they could not verify whether this aid package included ATACMS munitions, but said the aid did not include cluster munitions.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public.

The package also includes anti-armor weapons, small arms and grenades and the highly sought-after 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds, among other support.

The EU:

It’s official. 🇺🇦🇪🇺membership talks have started.

Feeling special gratitude to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for this day. pic.twitter.com/FfV29XCGzQ

— Olga Stefanishyna (@StefanishynaO) June 25, 2024

With 🇺🇦 & 🇪🇺 flags flapping in the breeze at the presidential office in Kyiv, Zelensky says, “When we signed the application for EU membership on the fifth day of the full-scale war, many said it was nothing but a dream. But we made this dream a reality.” pic.twitter.com/NGmmz3F3LB

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) June 25, 2024

Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast:

Instant punishment from above.
Ukrainian warriors destroyed a russian BM-21 “Grad” MLRS in the Pokrovsk direction. It managed to fire only a few shots and was turned into scrap metal.

📹: 109th @TDF_UA Brigade pic.twitter.com/bwlOf1AiVU

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 25, 2024

Somewhere in Donetsk Oblast:

Another destroyed Russian Pantsir-S1. As claimed by the source this one is somewhere in the Donetsk region:

“The photo shows the destroyed Pantsir-S1 air defense system.

HIMARS MLRS strike. The missile hit nearby, as a result of which the complex burned out from the inside.… https://t.co/rWPzkcZuhZ pic.twitter.com/Wq44pDwhxu

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

Another destroyed Russian Pantsir-S1. As claimed by the source this one is somewhere in the Donetsk region:

“The photo shows the destroyed Pantsir-S1 air defense system.

HIMARS MLRS strike. The missile hit nearby, as a result of which the complex burned out from the inside.

The personnel were not injured.

15.06.2024-20.06.2024. Donetsk region.”

https://t.me/dosye_shpiona/549

The Kharkiv front:

💥Two Russian Pantsir-S1 air defence systems destroyed on the Kharkiv front!

“Air reconnaissance unit of the 3rd ‘Spartan’ Brigade discovered the positions of Russian anti-aircraft systems and the missile forces unit Ukraine opened fire on them.”https://t.co/hZiAFh8m5c pic.twitter.com/yDrFpWekMZ

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

/3. Location of second Pantsir-S1 https://t.co/BaCtuCVyQ7 pic.twitter.com/XOVfhRnPGW

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

Here’s the full text of tweet 2 above:

/2. Geolocation of one of the Pantsir-S1.
(50.546260,36.581428). It’s also noteworthy that this is the first time when the drone footage of deep strike on Belgorod region of Russia were published

The destruction of those two Pantsir-S1 air defence so was reported back on the June 22nd:

“Minus 2 Pantsir-S1 in 2 days. 1 was on the near Belgorod. 1 covered Russian forces that attacked on Lyptsi, Kharkiv region, direction. In both cases the crew did not survive the Pantsirs were burned.”

https://t.me/vanek_nikolaev/24593
https://t.me/kiber_boroshno/8785

The Dnipro Rivier, Kherson Oblast:

Ukrainian FPV attack on a Russian boat during Russian night operation somewhere on the Dnipro river, Kherson region. Video filmed by Russians https://t.co/Cu7DFXR9k6 pic.twitter.com/4r3RljgWkd

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

The Avdiivka front:

‘Muramasa’ unit destroys Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS on its firing position. Avdiivka.https://t.co/SX1P9QT6pw pic.twitter.com/HLxYKe10vH

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

For you air defense enthusiasts:

Compilation of downing Shaheed kamikaze drones in Ukraine. https://t.co/4Yf72lbqYa pic.twitter.com/LV5b1JAfBo

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

And for you Yak-52 enthusiasts:

Kill marks of the crew of the Ukrainian Yak-52, which shoots down Russian reconnaissance drones.

P.S: As said in the comments, the bird and cloud at the bottom right are marking drones downed as a result of a collision with a bird and exposure to weather, which was witnessed by… https://t.co/ziDvTwZXfy pic.twitter.com/1ZjnqHqw9Z

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

Kill marks of the crew of the Ukrainian Yak-52, which shoots down Russian reconnaissance drones.

P.S: As said in the comments, the bird and cloud at the bottom right are marking drones downed as a result of a collision with a bird and exposure to weather, which was witnessed by the aircraft crew.

https://facebook.com/photo/?fbid=25980846541559054&set=a.868344163235972

If you ever wondered why states transitioning to liberal democracy are never quite able to make that transition, this thread is a good explainer:

2. 80% of all Ukrainian tax money is spend on defence, while social assistance, healthcare, and education are covered mainly by financial assistance from partner countries.

>>>https://t.co/8TluSOALEU

— Silja #RussiaIsGenocide #RussiaIsEcocide (@SiljaLynx) June 25, 2024

4. IDPs experienced problems with findings jobs and faced higher cost of rent and life expenses.

In 2022, “Lviv rents skyrocket as displaced Ukrainians scramble for housing”https://t.co/FuyuaGq5M0

>>>

— Silja #RussiaIsGenocide #RussiaIsEcocide (@SiljaLynx) June 25, 2024

6. The war has compounded “unresolved issues in housing policy before the war: outdated regulatory framework based on the Soviet Housing Code, shadow rental market, low quality of data on the national policy, & the real state of the housing stock”.https://t.co/ew84yTfGJh

>>> pic.twitter.com/gwVj9nlFgm

— Silja #RussiaIsGenocide #RussiaIsEcocide (@SiljaLynx) June 25, 2024

refs: https://t.co/YojaQfyyvChttps://t.co/lcVZiAbIMshttps://t.co/uQCDo3MrTPhttps://t.co/TzDuZs277l

— Silja #RussiaIsGenocide #RussiaIsEcocide (@SiljaLynx) June 25, 2024

The global system needs some long overdue TLC, and the L needs to be tough love.

Voronezh Oblast, Russia:

Tonight drones targeted a Russian ammunition storage in Olkhovatka, Voronezh region of Russia. 100km from the frontline.

Two drones attacked the territory of the ammunition storage at approximately 2:30 a.m. and the detonation is reportedly still ongoing.… pic.twitter.com/QVZmYlNLgP

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

Tonight drones targeted a Russian ammunition storage in Olkhovatka, Voronezh region of Russia. 100km from the frontline.

Two drones attacked the territory of the ammunition storage at approximately 2:30 a.m. and the detonation is reportedly still ongoing.

https://t.me/astrapress/58317
https://t.me/DIUkraine/4015

/3. The detonation of Russian ammunition is still ongoing. Exit and entry to Olkhovatka was blocked. https://t.co/lgy3Zz6r9c pic.twitter.com/XeF9KJCK6v

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

/5. A thread which describes in details Russian ammunition storage in Olkhovatka https://t.co/uKAlz8MJuU

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 25, 2024

On June 25th, Ukrainian HUR successfully struck a field ammo depot in Voronezh Oblast. The location was confirmed by @EjShahid. I published an analysis of this ammo depot in February. You can find full information about this ammo depot here:https://t.co/VJ6ZXBHU4l pic.twitter.com/q7PaosMWW7

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) June 25, 2024

Moscow via the Hague:

Hard to see a plausible defence to these allegations: PTC II considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two bear responsibility for missile strikes…[. ]…. against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until 9 March 2023. https://t.co/Eu1B2e5fkD

— Wayne Jordash (@WayneJordash) June 25, 2024

Those committing war crimes, bombarding civilian objects and infrastructure, live under the illusion they won’t be punished. Shoigu and Gerasimov are just the beginning. Sooner or later, all names will be known. pic.twitter.com/zAalLfuLln

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) June 25, 2024

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

But first a tree!

Yet another piece of Kyiv beauty for you all.

This is the Bai-Bai Oak, a magnificent ancient tree in the woodland at the northern edge of Kyiv, along the Big Automobile Beltway.

The Oak is about 500 years old, and this is one of Ukraine’s natural landmarks protected by law.… pic.twitter.com/Gr9psQzOX5

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) June 25, 2024

Yet another piece of Kyiv beauty for you all.

This is the Bai-Bai Oak, a magnificent ancient tree in the woodland at the northern edge of Kyiv, along the Big Automobile Beltway.

The Oak is about 500 years old, and this is one of Ukraine’s natural landmarks protected by law.

The video clearly does not fully illustrate the real scale – the tree is about 30 meters (100 ft) high, and the trunk’s diameter is about 1.5 meters (5 ft).

The Kyiv area is a really old place that has always been closely tied to forests, so we have quite a few such ancient trees that are 300, or 500, or even presumably about 1,000 years old.

One of many beautiful things about Kyiv is that one can sometimes google things about the town and be like: “Wow, so that big-ass tree next to a coffee shop I like actually remembers the time of the Crusades?”

The Bai-Bai Oak grows in the woodland strip beyond Kyiv’s residential districts, so it’s an especially wonderful and calm place to drive to, stop by, and take a walk while listening to birds.

The old tree gives a lot of spiritual power to its guests who are respectful and friendly. One should take it easy and try and explore pathways around the Oak and find a swampy pond with some really defiant ducks floating around.

This place is not distant, it’s very close to roads and also to a local police health camp, so it’s pretty easy to come to.

To be honest, I have no idea why it’s officially called “The Bai-Bai Oak.”

The easiest guess here is that the name comes from “Babai” or “Babaika,” which is a super common word for an elusive night creature from Slavic folklore, a boogeyman that parents jokingly scare their misbehaving kids with.

One could see and imagine that the ancient tree tries to boo its visitors with its branches spread wide, but other than that, it’s a very spiritually friendly place.

Smile 🙂 pic.twitter.com/8Q96g4TcYM

— Patron (@PatronDsns) June 25, 2024

Open thread!