Russian rocket attacks, constant air raid sirens, permanent power cuts, hardly any water: the situation in Ukraine has escalated dramatically once again since Russia’s massive airstrikes on the civilian infrastructure and the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region. Day‑to‑day life is hard for the people, and yet they refuse to be disheartened. Workers repair bombed‑out power plants, children learn mathematics and biology in bunkers six metres below ground, a young chef is opening a restaurant in Kharkiv, people help one another to survive. They all represent the impressive resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people.

Ukraine urgently needs more air defence resources to protect itself from Russian missile and drone attacks. That is why I have launched a global initiative for enhanced air defence together with Defence Minister Pistorius. To date, almost one billion euro have been made available in additional support for Ukraine’s air defence forces, and we are working intensively to increase that amount. We are leaving no stone unturned and have led the way ourselves by providing an additional Patriot unit. We now need to pool all our resources to ensure that Ukraine can hold out, so that Ukrainians will in future still be able to live self-determined lives. And so that Putin’s forces will not soon be standing at our own borders.

Putin, in his imperial delusion, sought to grab Ukraine. Instead, he has allied it firmly with Europe. Never before has our fate as Europeans been so closely linked to that of Ukraine. Ukraine is defending its freedom with great determination and in so doing is fighting for the freedom of us all. Ukraine’s EU accession is the necessary geopolitical consequence of Russia’s illegal war of aggression. Ukraine has made impressive progress and is moving along a path of reform despite Russia’s destructive fury. Now it is important for Ukraine not to relax its efforts – in the areas of judicial reform, the fight against corruption and media freedom.

Our support is rooted in the firm conviction that Ukraine will win this war. Putin is speculating that at some point we will run out of steam, but we have considerable staying power. Germany, together with many other countries from all parts of the world, stands unwaveringly alongside Ukraine. The people of Ukraine can build on this support in the long term. We will demonstrate this very clearly in June, when we are inviting the world to Berlin for the Ukraine Recovery Conference. Together with our partners around the world and a strong alliance of business representatives, civil society and local government, we are in the long term investing in safeguarding the future of Ukraine.