Dear Mr.Talman!
Dear Andreas,
Dear members of the Riksdag!
Leaders of parliamentary factions!
Dear friends!
It is a great honour for me to be a guest of your Parliament today and to address the Swedish people and government.
Let me use this high rostrum to first of all thank Sweden for its unique historical contribution to the establishment of the Ukrainian state.
This contribution goes back to the seventeenth century, when the Swedish royal dynasty supported Ukraine in every way possible, seeking to help it become independent by guaranteeing its rights and freedoms.
Today, we talk a lot about guarantees for Ukraine, but let us remember that it was Sweden that provided the first guarantee of independence and security when it signed the Treaty of Great Budyzhany in March 1709, a Union Treaty between the King Charles XII, the Hetman Ivan Mazepa and the Zaporizhzhian Sich.
It contains the following words: “The integrity of the borders, the inviolability of liberties, laws, rights and privileges must be sacredly observed, so that Ukraine may enjoy its rights and privileges freely and without any oppression for all time to come.”
Yesterday, at the National Archives of Sweden, I was excited and proud to hold in my hands the Latin original of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, written 313 years ago, a document that has long been an invaluable asset to our common historical heritage.
This unique document is not only considered to be the first constitution of a democratic society in the history of mankind, but also clearly shows that we are not an authoritarian moscowia.
We, Ukrainians, have been, are and will be part of Europe, part of the civilised world!
Why do I mention the events of more than three hundred years ago?
Because just like then, we are together today!
This is very important for us because Ukraine is going through the most difficult times in its modern history.
We sincerely and perhaps naively believed that we had gained independence in 1991, but we are actually gaining it now.
Because right now, Ukraine is paying an incredibly high and bloody price for its desire to live an independent life, to choose its own path of development and external priorities.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are heroically holding the line, building up their strength and continuing to liberate their land from the enemy, metre by metre.
Ukrainian towns and villages are being mercilessly attacked by missiles, artillery and drones every day.
The enemy is destroying our critical infrastructure.
They are killing civilians.
Our children are abducted and taken to russia.
But despite all the suffering our people are enduring, my speech today is a speech of gratitude.
We are immensely grateful to Sweden and the Swedish people for the empathy, help and support offered literally from the first day of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation.
I would like to particularly note the historic decision of the Riksdag on 27 February last year to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
It was the first decision by Sweden on external defence assistance since the soviet union’s armed aggression against Finland in 1939.
Let me convey to you the sincere gratitude of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi for everything you do.
As well as for giving the Head of our state the opportunity to address the Riksdag on 24 March, when the enemy was on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The level of support from the Swedish people is unprecedented and powerful!
It is based on our historical proximity and your keen sense of justice, which underlies the solidarity of support for our country by all political parties represented in the Swedish Parliament.
Sweden has shown true leadership in literally every aspect of vital assistance to Ukraine.
You have provided shelter to more than fifty thousand Ukrainian citizens who have sought and found protection from rocket attacks and occupation.
Thank you for that!
Your weapons help to defend our freedom and independence.
Thank you for training our military, whose skills in defending our homeland will soon be tested on the enemy.
Thank you for treating the wounded.
We are sincerely grateful for all the decisions of the Swedish Parliament and Government to provide comprehensive assistance to Ukraine, for each of the 11 aid packages.
I would like to express my special gratitude for Sweden’s leading role in consolidating international support, strengthening sanctions policy against russia, and isolating the aggressor in international organisations.
Sincere gratitude to you for joining the documentation of russia’s war crimes.
Your principled stance in the international arena will definitely bring russia to justice for all its crimes.
The brilliant Swedish presidency of the Council of the EU deserves special words of gratitude.
We highly appreciate the Riksdag’s decision in support of granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.
Thanks to our efforts and your responsible approach to the future of Ukraine and Europe, our greatest national dream is steadily and confidently becoming a reality.
I would like to thank you for the events held to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933.
We highly appreciate the position of the Foreign Affairs Committee that the famine in Ukraine was a deliberate result of the ruthless actions and policies of the totalitarian stalinist regime.
Unfortunately, impunity breeds new crimes.
We very much hope that the crime of the Holodomor will be recognised and condemned by the world as genocide.
The number of states that have already done so is growing steadily.
Dear friends,
At the same time, my speech today is an appeal, a plea.
Believe me – what is madness for the normal world is the only way for russia to exist.
russia lives by the totalitarian dogmas of historical revenge not only for its military defeats in the past, but even for the fact that someone lives better than it.
Not only Ukraine and the aggressor’s neighbouring states are under threat, but also those who it cannot forgive to its own backwardness and totalitarianism!
That is why the enemy must be rebuffed with the utmost determination!
Give us even more Archer howitzers to end this war with our common victory!
Give us your Leopards to push the enemy beyond our borders.
Give us your Gripen to defend the skies over Ukraine.
We also need to establish an international special tribunal.
We highly appreciate Sweden’s participation in the Core Group on a special tribunal, which already includes 37 states working together to bring the aggressor to international legal accountability.
We are counting on the Swedish Riksdag to vote in favour of recognising the russian federation as a state sponsor of terrorism and the private military companies it funds, such as wagner, as terrorist organisations.
I ask you to join us in supporting and implementing the peace formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
Both we and you are ready and willing to become members of the North Atlantic Alliance.
I want us to join our efforts and declare this openly to the whole world.
We have nothing to fear – let the enemy be afraid of our unity!
Dear members of the Riksdag,
Ukraine and Sweden have many common pages of history, and today our peoples are adding another one.
But its peculiarity lies in the fact that we do not read it but write it.
And we are responsible for what future generations will read in it.
I am grateful to you for your unprecedented unity, for your strong support for peace in our country, for our people, for the entire European continent.
I am confident that solidarity with Ukraine will only grow stronger as we now decide how this terrible war will end.
Like millions of Ukrainians, I believe in our common victory, and I really want us to celebrate it together in Kyiv and Stockholm.
I want our beautiful flags to create a great blue and yellow sea of joy and unity!
May we never forget our glorious and dignified past!
May we together create a happy future that no one will ever take away from us!
Glory to Ukraine!
Thank you, Sweden!