Tuomas Vanhanen

I am grateful to all our emergency services, who are always there for our people and work to address the aftermath of brutal Russian strikes. Only this morning, search and rescue operations were completed in Zaporizhzhia, where Russia killed 23 people, including four children. Yesterday, the Russians struck a medical facility in Kharkiv, and overnight there were Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and energy infrastructure. This morning, the Russians struck a five-story apartment building in Slovyansk – an entire section of the building was destroyed, and people may still be under the rubble. And this continues unabated – this week alone, the Russians have used around 1,450 aerial bombs, 75 missiles of various types, and more than 1,640 attack drones, about 60% of them jet-powered. Today, we will continue coordinating with partners – there will be talks with European leaders. Virtually every day, we coordinate at different levels and work on additional defense packages, first and foremost air defense and munitions for combat aircraft. All of this is to protect the lives of our people and Ukraine’s interests. The real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone. It is possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but Putin does not want to do so. Ukraine will be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking our energy infrastructure. Any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees.