Volodymyr Zelenskyy answered journalistsʼ questions for an hour about NATO, Shmyhal, Orban and mobilization. Here are key theses

On July 15, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an unannounced press conference to Ukrainian and Western journalists. For an hour, he talked about when Ukraine will finally end up in NATO, about possible rotations in the government, about the benefits of a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and why Ukraine needs allies in Africa.

About the Peace Summit. The summit was open, we cannot be closed only by the European continent. The Peace Summit is our canʼt-miss initiative. This is a platform for dialogue. At the first summit, we took only three points that do not divide the societies of other countries. Otherwise, we could have fewer leaders of other countries.

About the next Peace Summit. At the end of July — beginning of August, there will be the first meeting at the level of ministers, security advisors regarding the conclusions of our Peace Summit. It will be held, most likely, in Qatar and will concern energy security, there will be a fully prepared plan. In August, there will be a meeting in Turkey regarding free navigation, food security. In September, there will be a meeting in Canada regarding the exchange of prisoners and the return of children. If these points work, the plan will be ready for all 10 points of the Peace Formula. By November, everything should be ready for the next summit. Representatives of Russia should be there.

About Commander-in-Chief. Syrsky has a serious challenge, we have been waiting for [Western] weapons for almost eight months. I donʼt want to compare Syrsky [with Zaluzhny], everyone does the work in their place. I do not want to assess how things would have been if the leadership had not changed, that is a question for after the war. Syrsky knows the Kharkiv region, he liberated it.

On US aid in the event of Donald Trumpʼs victory. We have a decision to probvide Ukraine $40 billion, whoever is at the head of the US, he will not stop this aid. There may be a policy review, but itʼs hard to predict this right now. We have signed contracts without the US for $30 billion, even more. Trumpʼs argument was precisely that Europe should give as much as the USA. Europe gives a lot, so we are satisfied with this proportion.

About Republicans. The majority of the US Republican Party supports Ukraine and its people. There was a meeting with a lot of Republican governors. They treat Ukraine, the people and our soldiers with great respect.

About NATO. Ukraine will receive an invitation and membership in NATO as soon as the war ends. Now the allies cannot give the state an invitation in full. At the recent NATO summit, Ukraine got the maximum it could get — a boost in air defense and a commitment to F-16 fighter jets.

About air defense. To completely close the sky over Ukraine, 25 Patriot systems are needed. The five systems announced at the NATO summit are a significant contribution to air defense.

About recognizing Russia as a terrorist country by the USA. The majority of the US Congress is in favor of such a decision. But they cannot vote for him because of their internal reasons. They believe that this will be a dangerous decision for them.

About the help of the West. Are we being helped enough? Enough for what? To win? Not enough, otherwise we would have won and there would have been fewer losses. Enough to defend ourselves? Yes. We have our vision of victory, but not everything depends on us.

About skeptical Africa. Most of the iceberg is not visible, and most of the work with those countries that are skeptical, balanced or were on the side of Russia. But all this has a great impact. At the Peace Summit, there were 12 African countries that joined the communique. They were very skeptical, but some have changed their minds. We found diplomatic ways, communicated, negotiated behind the scenes.

About Viktor Orbanʼs visit. Orbanʼs visit to Ukraine is good in any case. Because we did not have a relationship, although we are neighbors. We are not at war with the Hungarians, we should have strong friendly relations. To begin with, at least be pragmatic ones. I did not know about his visit to Russia. If he used his visit to Ukraine to make his visit to the Russian Federation more comfortable, that is wrong approach. He was condemned by the EU and NATO for this visit. There was a serious discussion at the summit that no NATO member can have a pro-Russian policy.

About mobilization. The military say that everything is going according to plan. But there are not enough training grounds, they are already being expanded. In particular, abroad, this is one of the points of the agreement with Poland.

About Russiaʼs offensive from the north. We are at war, so there can always be offensives. Serious work was done in the Kharkiv region to make a new offensive in that direction impossible. The offensive was stopped, many Russian troops were withdrawn from other areas.

About the Cabinet of Ministers. Government changes — if they happen, you will know about it. We cannot simply talk about replacing the prime minister. This suggests that there may be changes in the government, probably there may be. We are engaged in this process. I donʼt have much time for this, but we are discussing some changes with some ministers.

About 14 new brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine without weapons. These are not new brigades. They simply did not receive the promised Western weapons. The arrival process is slow, but the recently established NATO coordination headquarters in Germany can solve this problem and speed up the delivery of weapons.

About the permission to strike on the territory of Russia with Western weapons. It was a red line. But weʼve started to get some positive signals about the use of long-range stuff. Some. It must be pressed further.