The more setbacks Russian forces endure on the battlefield, the greater the pain they are inflicting on Ukrainian civilians. Russian attacks on dams, on bridges, on power stations, on hospitals, on other civilian infrastructure are increasing, constituting a brazen violation of international humanitarian law. This week, President Putin said that Russia would not hesitate to use, and I quote, "all weapons systems available," end quote, in response to a threat to its territorial integrity, a threat that is all the more menacing given Russia's intention to annex large swaths of Ukraine in the days ahead. When that's complete, we can expect President Putin will claim any Ukrainian effort to liberate this land as an attack on so-called "Russian territory." This from a country that in January of this year, in this place, joined other permanent members of the Security Council in signing a statement affirming that, and I quote, "nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought." Yet another example of how Russia violates the commitments it's made before this body, and yet another reason why nobody should take Russia at its word today.

With the new weapons like the atom bomb, Russia would have it, too, and use it first. It is a very difficult world. But that trouble is imminent is obvious.

Russia's widespread aggression (against Ukraine) is a threat to the entire world and to all NATO countries, and NATO consultations on strengthening the security of the Allies must be initiated to implement additional measures for ensuring the defense of NATO Allies. The most effective response to Russia's aggression is unity. I assure all the people of Estonia that there is no direct military threat to Estonia and that the situation in Estonia and at our external border is calm.

Russia perceives NATO as an enemy — fair enough: NATO perceives Russia as an enemy — and is determined to prevent major countries on Russia’s borders from becoming members of NATO. Russia, in this way, I have to say, is no different from the United States. Your previous segment was about the history of U.S. coups in Honduras and other parts of Latin America to ensure that this area remains in American sphere of influence, or at the very least that external powers are excluded from that region. It’s called the Monroe Doctrine, right? Russia is no different in that regard. It doesn’t mean that Putin hopes for a new Soviet Union, but he does certainly want to keep NATO out of that region and is prepared to fight, as he’s shown in the past, to stop that happening. The problem about NATO is that it talks the talk, but, I mean, no serious person thinks that European countries, with the possible exception of Poland, will go to war for Ukraine. So, this, as well as the gas dependence, which you mentioned, is, in the end, a major card in Russia’s hand, that — in the very last resort. I’m not saying that the Putin government wants war, but it is prepared to go to war in the very last resort, and NATO almost certainly is not... Zelensky is extremely unpopular now for the failure to improve the economic situation — worsened by COVID, of course — and continued very high levels of corruption.

As President of Russia and the Supreme Commander, as a citizen of Russia, I will do everything to defend the country, protect the Constitution, lives and safety, liberty of our citizens.

I would like to emphasize that Russia's actions for strengthening the defence are the balanced response to the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance, the development of military infrastructure in the bordering countries, and the deployment of additional military contingents. NATO is a military-political coalition but not a group of philatelists.

The main goal for us is to protect the Russian Federation from the military threat posed by Western countries that are trying to use the Ukrainian people in the fight against our country.

Having seen the Red Army and Russian diplomacy in action, my own belief is that there is nothing the Soviets would not do to achieve world domination. But I am convinced that also that they respect force; perhaps they respect nothing in the world except force. And when confronted with strength and determination, they stop, look, and listen.

As far as some serious offensives involving an attempt to retake Crimea are concerned, it is absolutely clear that this will serve as a basis for the use of all means of protection, including those provided for by the basic doctrine of nuclear deterrence, when the use of any types of weapons against Russia poses a threat to the existence of the state as such.

But as for the Russian army, I think that we now basically correctly imagine the possible development of armed conflicts in the future. And the most dangerous thing here is the use of nuclear weapons. This is fraught with the most dire consequences, which I would not even want to talk about. But the country's army must be ready to repel such threats.

All this is forcing the USSR to fortify the nation's defences. The Soviet people want no arms build-up. What they want is arms reduction on both sides. But we are compelled to see to our country's essential security and also to that of our friends and allies. That is exactly what is being done. And we want everybody to remember that no adventure-seekers will ever succeed in catching us unawares, that no potential aggressor has the slightest chance of escaping a devastating retaliatory strike.

We fight for the lives and security of our people. For our sovereignty and independence [...] The right to remain as Russia, a state with a 1,000 years of history.

Russia wants to destroy Ukraine, to erase its existence as an independent national, cultural and state entity. Whoever does evil almost always tries to justify it with good. In this case, Russia claims that it is defending the Christian values that are being destroyed in Ukraine. It is not true that Russia is interested in defending Christian values. If they really wanted to defend Christian values, they would use Christian methods to do so.

Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so, to create threats for our country, for our people should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history.