Rustem Umyerov: 2024 was full of challenges, but at the same time it showed how strong we are

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umyerov, congratulated Ukrainians on the New Year and talked about the achievements of the past year.

ArmyInform provides the full text of the greeting.

“Dear Ukrainians!

2024 was full of challenges, but at the same time it showed how strong we are. Together we have come a long way and achieved significant success.

We moved the hostilities to the territory of the enemy, and the long-range operations of Ukrainian drones reach the most distant points of the aggressor country.

We have prepared a Victory Plan and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done together with our partners to achieve success.

This year, Ukraine laid the foundation for the creation of the army of the future — Future Force.

In cooperation with partners, we have built 8 coalitions of capabilities to support our state. This format of working with allies this year ensured a significant strengthening of our army, in particular, in aviation. F16s in Ukrainian skies are already successfully attacking the enemy and repelling enemy missiles. The next step is the French Mirage in Ukraine.

We have moved to long-term planning for years ahead to strengthen our power on land, sea and air. It is important that working in coalitions strengthens Ukraine’s compatibility with NATO and brings us closer to membership in the Alliance.

We launched the process of digitization of the Defense Forces, so that our army would be even more effective, and state structures would be faster and more transparent. Army+, Reserve+, our Ukrainian Delta have already become revolutionary products in the world.

Ukraine attracted record financing for its own defense production – more than 5 billion dollars. The result of the rapid development of domestic industry is drones and missiles that are already hitting targets thousands of kilometers from our border. We have produced and delivered more than 1.5 million drones to our soldiers.

Through joint efforts with our allies, we have systematically strengthened our defense capabilities. We attracted 10 countries to finance the Ukrainian defense industry, now it is more than 2.6 billion dollars for 2024 and 2025. And this number is constantly growing, and the number of partners is increasing.

In the state budget for defense in 2025, the government laid down a whopping 2.23 trillion hryvnias. These funds will be fully directed to the support of our soldiers and the development of the Defense Forces. We will spend UAH 739 billion on the purchase of weapons and military equipment, and another UAH 55 billion on the modernization of Ukrainian industry. We aim to make the budget for next year a budget for changes on the battlefield.

I sincerely thank our military, volunteers, medics, engineers – everyone who is working to defeat the Russian invaders. Eternal memory to the heroes who paid the highest price for the freedom of Ukraine.

We do not forget those who meet the new year in occupation and in captivity. We will make every effort to free everyone from Russian oppression.

May the new year be bright for all of Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!”