In Ukraine it will be decided whether our Europe remains a place where freedom and human dignity hold sway or becomes a continent on which violence can be used to redraw borders. The Ukrainian people are defending not only the freedom and sovereignty of their country, but also the security and freedom of Europe in the face of Putin’s aggression. That is why we will continue to fully concentrate on supporting Ukraine. The freedom and future of Ukraine is the most important task of our foreign and security policy.

Through violent means, Putin wants to prevent Ukraine from determining its own destiny. The objective of his war is nothing less than the subjugation of Ukraine. He is terrorising the Ukrainian people with brutal bombing campaigns. Every day and every night people are dying in their homes – in Kyiv, in Odesa, in Dnipro. Yet every day anew, despite all the destruction and all the terror, Ukrainians are resolutely defending their country, their freedom and their future, demonstrating unbelievable courage, strength and persistence. This deserves our utmost respect.

Our steadfastness as Europeans can be measured by our support for the freedom of Ukraine. Russia is counting on our support waning. Putin is not interested in peace, he wants to conquer and bring about subjugation, and he wants this at any price – even at the cost of hundreds of thousands more lives. We, however, will remain standing firmly alongside Ukraine, so that it can continue to successfully defend itself – with modern air defence systems and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic assistance. That is the promise I am carrying with me to Kyiv today.

Ukraine has repeatedly proved that it is willing to end this war through serious negotiations. Putin, in contrast, refuses to move away from any of his maximum demands. He is not interested in negotiations, he wants capitulation. As long as that is the case, we will continue to employ sanctions to restrict Putin’s options for financing his criminal war. We are working on this with the utmost urgency in the EU and with our partners in the G7.

At the same time, Putin’s actions should serve as an acute warning for us in Germany. The ideology of imperialism that is driving Putin poses the greatest threat to our security in Germany and in Europe. The determination of the NATO partners to invest five percent of GDP in defence and security in future clearly shows that we as allies are willing to defend our freedom and security in the long term.