Zelensky: Around world, we must defend against those who consider people merely expendable

Terrorists must always lose, so the whole world must defend itself against those who consider people to be mere expendable material.

Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a video message, Ukrinform reported.

Dear Ukrainians,

Today, throughout many cities and communities of our state, municipal services, repair teams, and energy workers have been tirelessly working on the aftermath of the Russian terrorist attack that occurred on Friday. People have been working continuously for the second day.

At this moment, normal power supply has been restored almost everywhere. There were some problems today in our city of Odesa – there were emergency shutdowns. Everything possible is being done to normalize the situation. Unfortunately, in Kharkiv, it's still very challenging. Today, there was another missile strike from Russia – these strikes continue daily. And everyone who is working to keep normal life in Kharkiv, in the region, in other border cities and communities, they are all true heroes. I thank every rescuer of our State Emergency Service of Ukraine, all employees of energy companies involved, police officers, local services, volunteers – everyone who is helping. Thank you for your dedication to protecting people!

I want to specifically acknowledge and thank the experts in Ivano-Frankivsk region, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Sumy region, Poltava region, our Dnipropetrovsk region, and Zaporizhzhia. Thank you for your efficient work! Today, I received reports from the regions, from the head of the government, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of course, from our military. The state must ensure a systematic response to every Russian strike.

I also want to recognize all the leaders of states, heads of international institutions, and all our partners who have expressed their support for Ukraine these days. It is important to act together every time missiles and drones attempt to destroy our lives. To act to reduce the potential for terror, to block it. This particularly concerns air defense systems, as well as sanctions. All these Iskander, Kinzhal and other Russian missiles have dozens of components imported for terror from other countries. The missiles used in this attack against Ukraine, against our energy system, had at least three hundred types of components from ten countries. Together with the "Shahed" drones, there were at least seven and a half thousand components in total. Each of them represents a violation of sanctions regimes against Russia, each one represents someone's attempt to make money from destroying lives. This needs to be stopped.

Another thing. What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious, both Putin and other scoundrels simply try to blame everything on someone else. They always resort to the same methods. It's been done before. There have been blown-up houses, shootings, and explosions. And they always blame others. They have come to Ukraine, burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine. They torture, rape people – and accuse them. They have brought hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here, to Ukrainian land, they fight against us, and they don't care what's happening inside their own country. Yesterday all this happened, and this absolute miserable Putin, instead of attending to his own citizens of Russia, addressing them, remained silent for a day – thinking about how to link this with Ukraine. Everything is absolutely predictable. Those hundreds of thousands of Russians who are now killing on Ukrainian land would surely be enough to stop any terrorists. And if the Russians are ready to silently die in "Crocus Halls" and not ask any questions to their security and intelligence agencies, then Putin will try to turn such a situation to his personal advantage again.

Terrorists must always lose. I thank everyone who truly defends life! I'm grateful to all our people who are fighting against terror. And around the world, we must defend against those who consider people merely expendable.

Glory to Ukraine!