Check against delivery!

Well, having been in Bucha, and now we're in Yahidne, and now in Chernihiv - I'm sure I'm not pronouncing well the names, but it doesn't matter. What matters is to have the opportunity to see exactly on the ground what happened here.

And what happened here brings us to the darkest moment of the history of Europe. Moments that we believed that they were forgotten and they [would] never happen again.

But unhappily, they happened again. They happened here in Ukraine with the Russian invasion.

And all the atrocities and destructions that today I had the opportunity to witness.

Here in this city, 85% of the destruction were residential areas. The theatre being bombed, the youth center being bombed.

So many people being killed at the moment of the invasion. We have to continue supporting Ukraine, not only military, but also to the reconstruction and development.

And I'm happy to know that we have been providing already a lot of support here in this region in particular with many projects in order to go from recovery to development.

But much more has to be done. On both fronts, on the military front and in the civilian front.

In the military, because this war has to be won.

Yesterday I was visiting a factory where drones, last generation drones, built by very smart engineers, will support the military, will support the armed forces of Ukraine on the battlefield.

And today I'm witnessing the destruction, the pain of the people, and our support on the civilian side, because it's also important to support Ukrainian people and Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, in order to increase the resilience of the Ukrainian people.

It's really extraordinary, the resilience of these people. How they rejected the invasion and how they continue fighting the invasion. And how they are healing their wounds, rebuilding, recovering and developing.

That's a reason to continue supporting them.

We should not be having any doubt, and Ukraine should not be having any doubt, about the will of the European Union to continue supporting them.

This is an extraordinary experience, and I thank a lot for this opportunity to be in the places where people were in jail, tortured, detained, all kind of people, babies, elderly, during the occupation.

And how they have been recovering both materially, even psychologically, gathering their forces in order to continue fighting.

Thank you.

Q: Russia could essentially get away without paying for the crimes that it committed in Ukraine, that under any peace deal that's forced on Ukraine, that Ukraine would never be able to get justice.

Look, to be peace, and not just ceasefire, to be peace it has to be just and sustainable. And this is a warning for the ones who say, this war has to end, so let's finish it as soon as possible, no matter how.

How [it is finished] matters. I've always been saying, “how” matters.

So the war has to end in a manner that there is accountability, not only economic recovery and justice, but also accountability.

And I know that's very difficult, but in order to make it possible, we have here our mission (EUAM), documenting what has happened, taking evidence that one day or another will be used in order to ask for responsibility for the people who committed these atrocities, not only in the ground, but also at the highest possible level.

Let's just remind that Putin himself has been [accused] in front of the International Criminal Court and other high-ranking officials.

So the matter is not to end the war and the silence of arms, which is not peace, it's justice ceasefire, and to work for a peace which is, I repeat, both based on justice and on accountability and sustainability.

And that is why the European Union is supporting Ukraine.

Q: So Ukraine has to be able to get some justice under any peace?

Otherwise it would not be something that we could call peace. In the cemeteries there is a lot of peace, but we don't want the peace of cemeteries.

We want the peace of a vibrant society that could recover from the heels of the war, that could go, as I've been told today, from resilience, recovery, development, building a better country as a member of the European Union.

Today candidate and tomorrow member of the European Union. This will be the best way for us to support Ukraine on the path to a just and sustainable peace and full economic, social recovery.

Q: So Russia has to be made to pay?

Certainly. It's something called war compensations, that in the past some people had to pay.

And remember that we have €300bn euros of [frozen] Russian assets that could be used in order to pay for the accountability, for the compensations for the people who suffer it and for the destruction that has been produced by the Russian invasion.

It should not be for free.

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