President Maia Sandu’s speech at the joint press conference with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

President Zelenskyy, 

Thank you for receiving me in Kyiv. I am always moved to be in this city — a city that has shown the world what it means to refuse to be broken. I am here this morning knowing that the other night, Russia struck again — in Dnipro, in cities across Ukraine. People were killed in their homes. 

And I want to say to the people of Ukraine: we see you, we are with you, and the world must not look away.

Today is a day of remembrance. Forty years ago, the Chornobyl disaster reminded an entire continent that the threats of an authoritarian regime do not stop at borders. The Soviet regime knew what had happened — and chose to hide it, while radiation spread across Europe, putting millions at risk.

They sent liquidators — among them, Moldovans — without protection, and without telling them the truth. Many paid for that service with their health and their lives. We remember them today.

Chornobyl laid bare the Soviet regime's contempt for human life. Little has changed in the Kremlin since. That same contempt is visible in Russia's conduct today. 

And yet, facing it, Ukraine fights. Ukraine innovates. Ukraine endures. 

Dear Volodymyr, what your country has accomplished in defending its people and its sovereignty is remarkable. Ukraine has rewritten the doctrine of modern defence. 

Your soldiers and engineers have developed capabilities now studied and sought after across Europe and beyond. Ukraine has become a security provider for the entire continent, and what is learned here shapes how nations think about their defence for years to come.

Such an achievement deserves consistent, firm, unwavering support. I therefore welcome the European Union's decision to extend a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, and the new sanctions package against Russia. 

This is the way forward: maximum support for the country defending European values, maximum pressure on the aggressor attacking them. More support for Ukraine, more pressure on Russia.

Sustaining that pressure also means ensuring that every act of destruction, every war crime, is answered for. Durable peace requires accountability. 

Moldova is proud to be a founding member of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, established within the Council of Europe framework. As current Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, accountability sits at the heart of our presidency — through the Register of Damage caused by Russia's aggression, through the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, and through the Special Tribunal itself. 

In a few weeks, Chișinău will host the Council of Europe Ministerial, where we expect the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Management Committee of the Special Tribunal to be formally adopted — moving it from political commitment to operational reality. 

That accountability is personal for us. Russia’s war reaches Moldova too.

Earlier this year three hundred thousand people in northern Moldova were left without safe drinking water for nearly a week after the Russian attack on the Novodnistrovsk power plant. Several weeks later, our electricity supply was disrupted when Russia targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Our airspace has been violated dozens of times. 

We are grateful to Ukraine for working with us to address the river pollution and restore the power connection — and for so much more. Because Ukraine, in defending itself, has also been defending us.

[pause]

We feel Russia's aggression very close — in our homes and in our lives. Not in the way Ukraine does. But Moldova has faced its own version of this assault: disinformation campaigns, electoral interference, energy blackmail, cyberattacks — hybrid tools designed to divide us, destabilise us, and turn us into a weapon against Ukraine and the EU.



So we have been building resilience and deepening security partnerships. And that firsthand experience of defending democracy under real pressure has made Moldova a more committed, more capable partner — for Ukraine, and for European security.

Chornobyl forty years ago taught us what shared vulnerability means. Russia's war today is teaching it again. That is why we say it plainly: Moldova's security and Ukraine's security are intertwined. 

And this is precisely why our European path matters so much.

The EU's promise has always been that progress is rewarded. Moldova and Ukraine have both met the conditions to formally open accession negotiations. Honouring that commitment is not only fair — it is essential to the credibility of the entire enlargement process. 

When the EU extended the 90 billion euro loan and adopted new sanctions on Russia, it acted with unity and resolve. The EU should bring that same unity to the enlargement process — and open negotiations for both our countries without further delay. 

Dear Volodymyr,

Our shared European future also means working together towards a real, lasting, principled peace — grounded in Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

Moldova is prepared to play a meaningful role in the Coalition of the Willing, and to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine. Rebuilding Ukraine is Europe's shared responsibility, and Moldova embraces it as its own.

Dear friends,

The people of Moldova stand with the people of Ukraine — today, as yesterday, and as tomorrow.

We remember Chornobyl together. We face today's challenges together. We will build our European future together.

Slava Ukraini.