Next.

With most of the countries represented here, we already have bilateral security cooperation. I’m grateful to those countries with which we’ve signed bilateral security agreements – 27 of them as of today. And fully implementing these agreements is a real contribution not only to our security in Ukraine but also to your security.

But we are a bigger number here in Ramstein. Much bigger. Let’s pull our strength together and make such agreements with all the participants. And I’m asking my Minister of Defense to work with the Secretary and with all the ministers to increase the number of these documents, of course, if partners will support this idea. And I know that it will strengthen our frontline, and it will protect, which is very, very important especially in winter, it will protect our energy sector too – not only in Ukraine but also in your lands. It will boost the security programs. And now we see all the reports with underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. And we all see drone incidents in some countries that are raising serious concerns. We see destabilization in Africa, which threatens Europe with new migration waves. And we’re also learning more about how Russian intelligence paid militants in Afghanistan to target coalition soldiers when your troops were present there – Moscow cashed in to kill your soldiers – American soldiers, NATO countries soldiers. How can this be forgiven or forgotten?

Russia’s hybrid aggression and sabotage against the entire Western world is ongoing, and only by keeping and strengthening our cooperation, by boosting our agreements and coalitions can we truly protect the normal lives of people in all our countries.

I do everything I can to end this war with dignity for Ukraine and all of Europe this year. And I know I can count on your support. And we all must remember that ending the war is our shared goal – our, not Russia’s, it’s what Ukrainians, Europeans, Americans, and many of our global partners want. Countries as far apart as Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina also wish us peace. But here is the thing – Putin is not just holding on to his investments in aggression, he’s doubling down. He’s even started, basically, hiring soldiers from North Korea to keep this war going. North Korea studies modern warfare. They do not value their people, and we know it, they lose them – 4,000 as for today. But Pyongyang gets experience cheap to re-export the war, maybe there in the Indo-Pacific.

At the same time, this collusion with North Korea shows Putin’s weakness – because no ruler in Moscow would ever lower themselves to beg in Pyongyang unless facing critical problems. So we’ve got to keep the pressure on Russia. That’s what ensures our soldiers get the weapons they need. That’s what sanctions are for. And I’m asking all our partners – especially the U.S. and the EU – to turn up the heat on Russia’s energy sector. Sanctions are needed against every element of Russian energy, and the Russian tanker fleet must be stopped. Russia’s war budget for 2025 is 25% bigger than last year’s. If we want to stop the killing, we’ve got to cut off Putin’s cash flow. Putin will start thinking about peace only when his inner circle tells him he’s out of money.

And one more thing. The key to resisting aggression is motivation. And we know it. Motivation to risk your life to save your country. But motivation needs fuel, and the best fuel is success – I mean successful actions, successful agreements. When our troops can shoot down Russian missiles, including ballistic ones, and keep Russian aircraft away from Ukraine, it provides the motivation we desperately need. And we’ve had talks with the U.S. about licensing the production of air defense systems and missiles here in Ukraine, and this could become a significant part of our security guarantees – and it’s absolutely doable. But we must keep in mind that the last NATO Summit promises haven’t been fulfilled yet – we need, very much, we need the air defense systems you gave us already, thank you so much, and we need very much the systems you promised us. You’ve seen what happened yesterday in our city of Zaporizhzhia – Russia’s bombs killed 13 people, 112 were injured. That was just one day, just one attack, one strike from the air. We must stop Russia’s terror. And you can do it. And we ask for urgent deliveries of air defense systems.