In the Near Future, the Issue of New Air Defense Systems and Co-Production Will Be Actively Discussed with Partners – Address by the President

30 May 2024 – 20:54

Dear Ukrainians!

Briefly about this day.

First, I would like to thank all of our defenders of the sky – the warriors of the mobile firing groups, our Air Force, and all air defense units that defend our cities and communities from Russian missiles and drones every day and night. Your effectiveness, your accuracy, warriors, is very important, and we are working as hard as possible to add strength and capabilities to our air defense. In the near future, this issue will be actively discussed with partners – new air defense systems and co-production, and in particular drone production – increasing the volume and attracting special investments in such production – both co-production with our partners and work in our country. I thank everyone in the world who supports Ukraine in this regard and who convinces other leaders and other states to help. We already have some confirmations from leaders about enhancing our air defense capabilities, and the key is to implement them in full and add more relevant agreements.

Second. I held several meetings with our foreign policy team to discuss the necessary results for this June. We are thoroughly planning the negotiations, meetings of our representatives, and the content of the documents. This includes defense packages for Ukraine, new security agreements, and the Peace Summit. In fact, every day we are adding participants to the Summit and countering Russian attempts to disrupt or weaken the Summit. Now every representative of Ukraine has a clear task – to make the next month more productive for Ukraine. And every month, every week, every day should contribute to the strength of our state, our society in the defense, in our defense. It depends on everyone who works for the state and in the state.

And third. Yesterday, in the Kharkiv sector, Iryna Tsybukh, a combat medic of the Hospitallers, was killed in the war. She was one of those who not only defended the state, but also did everything to ensure that others joined, trained and learned to be effective. In matters of both frontline medicine, and respect for Ukrainian warriors – in matters of memorializing the feat of Ukrainians. My condolences to all of Iryna’s brothers-in-arms and friends, all of her loved ones, everyone who knew her, and everyone she inspired to fight for Ukraine and achieve results for Ukraine. It is very important that her work and the efforts of all our fallen heroes continue.

May the memory of all those who gave their lives for the sake of Ukraine be eternal and blessed! I thank everyone in the world who cares and does everything possible to ensure that Russian evil leaves Ukrainian land as soon as possible.

Glory to Ukraine!

The cost:

Video via bandura_krut

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) May 30, 2024

During a rotation on the frontline, a combat medic, Iryna ‘Cheka’ Tsybukh was killed in Kharkiv region. She would have turned 26 on June 1st.

Her brother, Yuriy Tsybukh, shared a posthumous letter that Cheka’ wrote in case she would get killed—translation in the thread below. pic.twitter.com/9YhtEz4wuC

— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) May 30, 2024

Here’s the text of the letter via the Thread Reader App:

“Hi, accept my condolences. I don’t like seeing you sad, but over time, this despair will fade, and life will go on. So don’t waste time on suffering, move forward.

It’s now 7:19 PM, Saturday, April 8, 2023. My team and I are working on reconnaissance for the 80th brigade. ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith is playing in the background. There have been so many close calls this past year, I figured I should write a posthumous letter just in case.” 

It’s sad to me how we lead our frail lives, relying on societal approval so much, that we only find true freedom in death alone. The only problem is life ends, and that freedom bears no meaning.

From today on, I don’t care what people will say about me, about you, about this text, about anything. Whether these words get likes or not, finally no one’s opinion matters to me anymore because I’m dead. 

Freedom is the highest value. Almost 26 years passed by, often bogged down by fears and insecurities. But these distractions had no place in my pursuit of freedom.

I’m grateful to myself, my parents, my brother, my family, and my friends for allowing me to be free and live the life I wanted. 

In order to be free, you have to attain new kinds of values. You have to understand yourself well, know who you are, know what happiness means to you, and how to achieve it. Once you have these answers, the most important thing is to keep moving forward. 

Here in Donetsk, I’m on my path, being myself and doing what I want. Nothing else matters really, which is writing this letter comes so easily – because right this moment, same as the moment when my time comes, I have no regrets in the face of death because I’m finally living the life that I wanted.

I won’t lie, to feel this true freedom, I’ll need more rounds of therapy, face more fears, and shed more tears. 

Today, everything is behind me; my life is over, and it was important for me to live with dignity: to be honest, kind, and loving. Today, we are working for the heroes, and it’s a great way to reaffirm my values – to be that person truly.

Thank you to everyone who loved and supported me. Don’t mourn me; life is so short. If it continues after death, we’ll meet again. 

My brother, don’t worry about me. I stopped worrying about you when you turned 17. Today, you had your first tour of princely Lviv, and I’m so proud of you.

Whoever you choose to be, trust yourself, listen to yourself, love yourself, and live a happy life. If I can, I’ll support you from heaven. But what really matters is that while I was alive, we loved each other and were wonderful siblings. Those were good times.

Let these memories warm you and motivate you, but don’t let them upset you.

To have the strength to be a free person, you must be brave.

Only the brave find happiness, and it is better to die running than to live rotting.

Be worthy of the feats of our heroes, don’t despair, and be brave!”

Kisses, your Cheka
08.04.23 Donetsk region

Eternal memory 🕯️ 

спи спокійно, друже

памʼятаю, як ми з тобою сміялися з того, що місцевий паблік написав про твою загибель декілька місяців тому. казали, що це хороша прикмета — будеш довго жити

набрехали

Єнот, честь. pic.twitter.com/hY49f23LWL

— пані тиха (@nbspeka) May 30, 2024

банка для допомоги рідним Єнота. https://t.co/nApiZDjWyA

— пані тиха (@nbspeka) May 30, 2024

Here’s the machine translation of all three tweets:

sleep well my friend

I remember how you and I laughed at what the local public wrote about your death a few months ago. they said that this is a good sign – you will live a long time

lied

Raccoon, honor.we laughed at this mushroom
these photos were not supposed to become posthumous
what a bitch

bank to help relatives of Raccoon.

The problem:

See these short arrows from Belgorod to Kharkiv? That’s 8 S-300 missiles Russia launched overnight. The red ones are from planes. This is why Ukraine needs the right to hit launch sites in Russia and more air defenses. pic.twitter.com/EN1mCbat40

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) May 30, 2024

Washington DC and Kyiv:

NEW: US is close to signing new security pact with Ukraine in signal of support to assuage Kyiv after “tense” relations that some officials say have hit their lowest ebb since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Story w/ @JamesPoliti @HenryJFoy. More in 🧵below.https://t.co/Qm1QHJGuME

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 30, 2024

Here are the details from the Internet Archive as the original is paywalled. (emphasis mine)

The US is close to signing a new bilateral security pact with Ukraine in a signal of support aiming to assuage Kyiv after “tense” relations that some Ukrainian officials say have hit their lowest ebb since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The agreement would be the most significant in a series of deals Ukraine has struck with Nato countries that lays out commitments on long-term support, including military training, intelligence sharing and economic assistance.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s frustration with Joe Biden was laid bare this week, when the Ukrainian president rebuked his US counterpart in unusually blunt terms, saying Biden’s plan to attend a Democratic fundraiser rather than Ukraine’s peace summit on June 15-16 was “not a strong decision”.

One Zelenskyy-appointed senior government official who spoke to the Financial Times about the US-Ukraine relationship said: “We are farther apart than ever since the war started. It is very, very tense.”

However days before the peace summit, Zelenskyy and Biden are expected to sign a bilateral security agreement on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Italy next month, US officials told the FT.

The pact has been negotiated during weeks of increasingly strained relations between Kyiv and Washington. Zelenskyy’s office this week issued a memo to officials and MPs, seen by the FT, that instructs them to criticise both Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping for not attending the summit. “If they don’t [attend], then what is their real interest?” the memo wrote.

Several Ukrainian officials said that Kyiv’s bitterness over lack of top-level US support for its peace summit initiative was just one of many points of friction with Washington and other western partners that have erupted at a particularly difficult time for Ukraine’s leadership.

More than a dozen current and former Ukrainian officials and G7 country diplomats in Kyiv who spoke to the FT point to a clutch of contentious issues. These include Congress’s six-month delay in approving US military assistance; the expected lack of substantive progress towards Nato membership for Ukraine at the alliance’s Washington summit in July; the Biden administration’s prohibition on Kyiv’s use of American-supplied weapons inside Russia; and Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Ukrainian attacks on two radar systems that form part of Moscow’s nuclear warning system over the past week have been a particular point of conflict with Washington, which is worried that it may provoke Moscow and further escalate the war.

Other points of concern relate to diverging strategies on how Ukraine can achieve victory and what that victory might look like, as well as Zelenskyy’s little explained removal of top government and military officials the US had worked closely with.

Several Ukrainian government officials and diplomats from G7 nations cited the firing of commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny in February and infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov this month. Both men were well respected and enjoyed close working relationships with US and EU officials. The officials told the FT that G7 ambassadors have warned Zelenskyy’s government about what they see as disruptive and inexplicable moves.

The fraying relations and discord come as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold their defensive lines against a bigger and better-armed Russian army in the east, and while Zelenskyy is under huge pressure to mobilise more men and take other unpopular decisions to bolster the war effort.

Zelenskyy’s press secretary did not immediately respond to questions about relations with Biden’s White House.

The Biden administration has been among Ukraine’s most steadfast supporters, committing more than $175bn in emergency assistance to the country since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Biden has repeatedly stated that the US would stick by Ukraine’s side for “as long as it takes”.

A US official said while there were points of disagreement in any bilateral relationship, there had been positive developments that had cheered officials in Kyiv. These include the US approval for Kyiv’s use of long-range 300km Atacms missiles and Congress passing $60bn of aid last month.

The US official also said Ukraine’s request to use US weapons to strike inside Russia was relatively recent, coming three weeks ago when Russian forces opened a new front in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. The official said the request is being evaluated by the Biden administration, suggesting a shift was possible soon.

But a second senior Ukrainian official said Zelenskyy has grown more “emotional and nervous” over the situation on the battlefield and what they say the president sees as Washington’s eagerness to start negotiations with Russia, despite the White House stating in public that it is entirely a decision for Kyiv to initiate such talks.

Zelenskyy “thinks they want the war to go away before the [US] election”, the official said. He added that the Ukrainian president was also unhappy with the Biden administration’s insistence that Kyiv not hit Russian oil infrastructure over fears of raising global gas prices in an election year.

A third senior Ukrainian official used the word “paranoia” to describe the feeling inside the presidential office in recent months, as Zelenskyy and his team have worked to prepare for next month’s peace summit. “Zelenskyy has deep anxiety about the military situation but especially about the peace summit in June,” the official said.

The Ukrainian president has tried to attract leaders from as many countries as possible to his summit in Switzerland, with the aim of uniting the global community against Vladimir Putin’s aggression. The Russian president has not been invited.

Representatives from more than 80 countries have confirmed their attendance, according to the memo and Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, Russia has been working to convince developing countries to sit it out.

Zelenskyy’s office wrote a memo on May 26 that outlines talking points for officials and MPs to use when speaking with western partners and media about the summit, and specifically instructs Ukrainian officials and lawmakers to pile public pressure on Biden and Xi.

“It is unlikely that the world will understand President Biden and President Xi if they do not join in the realisation of such undeniably just goals and bringing peace closer.”

Zelenskyy himself criticised the lack of response from the Biden administration during a visit to Brussels on Tuesday. “I am aware that America supports this summit, but we not aware on which level,” Zelenskyy said.

“I believe that the peace summit needs President Biden,” Zelenskyy continued. “His absence will only be a personal, standing applause to Putin.”

US officials say that Ukraine scheduled the summit in Switzerland for June 15 and 16 despite being told that Biden would probably be unable to attend. A senior official will represent the US at the meeting.

“The US and President Biden has been there for President Zelenskyy and for the people of Ukraine, and that will continue regardless of who sits in what chair at the peace summit,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Several members of Zelenskyy’s own government said they are beginning to worry about the methods employed by their president to communicate with the US. One said that Zelenskyy was “very irritated” with Biden, adding they were concerned about “openly provoking” the White House.

“What do you say in America?” a fourth Ukrainian government official asked the FT. “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.”

Seems to work for Bibi and the Israelis!

More seriously, I’m sure this is part of the frustration. Zelenskyy and his team have largely done what the Biden administration wants them to do while Bibi and his coalition are out of control and Bibi is actively working to cost Biden reelection and they get whatever they want.

This is the dynamic that Zelenskyy is observing:

There is no doubt in my mind that Biden loves Israel more than Netanyahu does. As I saw an Israeli post recently, Biden has risked his political future for Israel. Netanyahu has risked Israel for his political future.

— Schoggigipfel (@schoggigipfel) May 29, 2024

Blinken on whether U.S. will allow Ukraine to strike in Russia: “We’ve adapted & adjusted as necessary…We’re always listening, we’re always learning & we’re always making determinations about what’s necessary to make sure that Ukraine can effectively continue to defend itself.”

— Olivia Gazis (@Olivia_Gazis) May 29, 2024

Antony Blinken said that the U.S. could “adapt and adjust” its position on Western weapons strikes against targets on Russian territory.

“Another hallmark of our support for Ukraine over these now more than two years has been to adapt. As the conditions have changed, as the… pic.twitter.com/PmpZbZPMit

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 30, 2024

Antony Blinken said that the U.S. could “adapt and adjust” its position on Western weapons strikes against targets on Russian territory.

“Another hallmark of our support for Ukraine over these now more than two years has been to adapt. As the conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as what Russia does has changed in terms of how it’s pursuing its aggression, escalation, we’ve adapted and adjusted too. And I’m confident we’ll continue to do that,” @SecBlinken said at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

When asked by a reporter whether Blinken’s words meant that America could support Ukraine’s attacks inside Russia, he replied, “adapt and adjust means just that.”

From Zelenskyy’s point of view, Ukrainians are dying every day, Ukrainians are being terrorized, Ukrainians are being occupied all to defend NATO’s eastern flank. And the response from the US has been slow, begrudged, conditional, and patronizing. Ukraine is not allowed to use US weapons systems, weaponry, or munitions/ammo to thwart Russian attacks that are being staged just across the border, but when Israel uses a pair of US GBUs to take out a pair of high value Hamas targets adjacent to where Israeli told displaced Gazan Palestinians to flee to and shelter and a gas line, it doesn’t cross Biden’s red line.

For those who are going to say that the US has eased the restriction for Russian attacks on Kharkiv, only sort of. It’s for counterbattery only.

From Politico: (emphasis mine)

The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, three U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” one of the U.S. officials said, adding that the policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

Ukraine asked the U.S. to make this policy change only after Russia’s offensive on Kharkiv began this month, the official added. All the people were granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions that haven’t been announced.

In the last few days, the U.S. made the decision to allow Ukraine “flexibility” to defend itself from attacks on the border near Kharkiv, the second U.S. official said.

In effect, Ukraine can now use American-provided weapons, such as rockets and rocket launchers, to shoot down launched Russian missiles heading toward Kharkiv, at troops massing just over the Russian border near the city, or Russian bombers launching bombs toward Ukrainian territory. But the official said Ukraine cannot use those weapons to hit civilian infrastructure or launch long-range missiles, such as the Army Tactical Missile System, to hit military targets deep inside Russia.

If this is true, then the Biden administration has done what it should have done two and a quarter years ago. It allowed something that initially should not have even been prohibited. Full of fear and lack of leadership – main features describing the current presidential… https://t.co/domq7GRg8f pic.twitter.com/cbXr3U0iRr

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) May 30, 2024

If this is true, then the Biden administration has done what it should have done two and a quarter years ago. It allowed something that initially should not have even been prohibited. Full of fear and lack of leadership – main features describing the current presidential administration.

Every decision this administration was forced to make was the result of hundreds of lives lost and rivers of blood spilled.

Only after Russian troops practically wiped out Vovchansk from the face of the earth, after hundreds of people died from Russian shelling and airstrikes in the border regions, did the current US presidential administration reluctantly, allowed the use of its weapons on some parts of the Russian territory. In addition to being one of the very last countries to do so.

Behind every ban that is imposed on Ukraine’s right to defend itself there is fear. Fear of Russia among people who often live on the opposite side of the globe from the Kremlin.

And the time it takes these people to overcome their personal unjustified fears of Russia and Putin is one of the main reasons for the death of many thousands of Ukrainians.

No one can turn back the flow of time to do things differently. The dead cannot be brought back, but you can do everything possible so that from this moment on, as few as possible will die from Russian aggression.

But everything inside me screams that this won’t happen. The current unjustified fear of many Western governments of Putin and Russia is disproportionately stronger than their commitment to democratic and Western values.

❤️Thanks to all those who help Ukraine, to those who make every effort to permanently remove all imposed bans on the right of Ukrainians to self-defense.

🩸For everyone else, I hope you will need as little time as possible to overcome your personal fears of Putin, since in Ukraine people pay in blood for time.

They did the absolute minimum thing they had to do to get people off their backs for a while. This may very well prolong the decision process to allow Ukraine to hit the targets they really need.

— Def Mon (@DefMon3) May 30, 2024

Russia gets to strike anywhere it wants in Ukraine any time it wants with Russian, Iranian, and North Korean weapons and munitions. Ukraine, however, is severely restricted by the Biden administration in how it can fight an existential defense against a genocidal re-invasion.

Denmark:

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has stated that Ukraine will be able to use Danish F-16 fighters to strike military targets on Russian territory.

“Part of the border is actually the front line. Therefore, it will be very difficult for the Ukrainians to defend… pic.twitter.com/BnlzVcpJWT

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 30, 2024

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has stated that Ukraine will be able to use Danish F-16 fighters to strike military targets on Russian territory.

“Part of the border is actually the front line. Therefore, it will be very difficult for the Ukrainians to defend themselves if they are not allowed to hit military targets on the other side of the border,” @larsloekke told reporters on May 30 at a doorstep of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) in Brussels, pointing out that this position is not new and is part of a transfer.

But he stressed that this is “not a carte blanche for Ukraine to use F16s to launch arbitrary attacks on Russia.”

According to him, Russia’s military installations, like weapons depots, are “legitimate military targets” since Russia attacked Ukraine.

“It is completely within the rules of war that a country that is attacked must be able to respond. This also includes the right to target installations on the attacking party’s own territory,” the Danish minister of foreign affairs said.

Source: https://kristeligt-dagblad.dk/udland/loekke-afviser-bekymring-angreb-paa-danmark-efter-russisk-trussel

Kharkiv:

Whenever there’s a russian missile or bomb attack on Kharkiv, I text my mom to make sure she and my dad are safe. Tonight, she took longer than usual to reply, which terrified me, so I called her. Once I knew they were alright, I hung up the phone and burst into tears. The fear…

— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) May 30, 2024

Whenever there’s a russian missile or bomb attack on Kharkiv, I text my mom to make sure she and my dad are safe. Tonight, she took longer than usual to reply, which terrified me, so I called her. Once I knew they were alright, I hung up the phone and burst into tears. The fear that one of these attacks could kill my parents haunts me, making me live from one call to another in constant worry.

Kharkiv Oblast, a Ukrainian FPV munition flies into a fully loaded Russian BM-21 grad, causing a catastrophic ammunition detonation, vaporizing the Russian MLRS. pic.twitter.com/QzPA11w2D2

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 30, 2024

Russian occupied Crimea:

Update from @DI_Ukraine: As a result of the overnight attack, 4 speedboats, KS-701 Tunets (Tuna) type, were hit, and 2 of them were destroyed. https://t.co/f1Qroo146S

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 30, 2024

Last night, the Defense Forces of Ukraine struck the Kerch ferry crossing with ATACMS missiles — General Staff of the Armed Forces.

2 ferries, which carried out rail and road transportation, suffered significant damage. One of them ran aground, blocking the operation of the… https://t.co/vdItT14v7k pic.twitter.com/g5kOFMrkq5

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 30, 2024

Last night, the Defense Forces of Ukraine struck the Kerch ferry crossing with ATACMS missiles — General Staff of the Armed Forces.

2 ferries, which carried out rail and road transportation, suffered significant damage. One of them ran aground, blocking the operation of the entire Kerch crossing.

The crossing was actively used to secure grouping of Russian troops in occupied Crimea.

/2. Avangard: Year 2009; Length 133,7m; Can carry 45 railway cars.
Conro Trader: Year 1978; Length 109m; Can carry 35 railway cars.

Intormation about Conro Trader – https://t.co/PWxc2mhUXt
Intormation about Avangard – https://t.co/x1YqnslCRY pic.twitter.com/GLJFwlrNnV

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) May 30, 2024

The Serbyansk Forest, Kreminna:

Епізоди боїв у Серебрянському лісі (Луганщина) на напрямку Кремінної,очима іноземних добровольців у складі Інтернаціонального Легіону pic.twitter.com/kPM6wysGBO

— Мисливець за зорями (@small10space) May 30, 2024

Here’s the machine translation of the tweet:

Episodes of battles in Serebryansk forest (Luhansk region) in the direction of Kreminnaya, through the eyes of foreign volunteers as part of the International Legion

/2. Serebryanskyy forest, Kreminna front https://t.co/I7rQRffapT

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) May 30, 2024

[2/2]

Visible light. pic.twitter.com/IPVhy28nTX

— kosmi 🛰️🌍 (@kosmi64833127) April 19, 2024

Chasiv Yar:

Russians intensified assault on Chasiv Yar, — press officer of the 26th Artillery Brigade Oleh Kalashnikov.

Russian tactics have also changed. Instead of using small infantry groups, they relied on mechanized attacks.

“Indeed, there are more and more cases of mechanized… pic.twitter.com/bRDdhwTAfC

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 30, 2024

Russians intensified assault on Chasiv Yar, — press officer of the 26th Artillery Brigade Oleh Kalashnikov.

Russian tactics have also changed. Instead of using small infantry groups, they relied on mechanized attacks.

“Indeed, there are more and more cases of mechanized attacks, they involve both tanks and armored personnel carriers. This is due to the fact that infantry groups cannot break the defense. That is why they use the mechanized component, because they are trying not only to find a weak point, but also to push us through and advance,” Kalashnikov said.

📹: what Russia does to Chasiv Yar/Black Swan Squad

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets today. Here’s some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mission: melt hearts

📷: Lyut (Fury) Brigade pic.twitter.com/zpLmU0LOyj

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 30, 2024

Open thread!