In Full: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Munich Security Conference

In Full: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Munich Security Conference, from Sky News, running about 47 minutes. The Ukrainian president delivers an impassioned, at times defiant address to the assembled world leaders in Munich, laying out the brutal reality of four years of full-scale war, making the case for stronger security guarantees, and sending pointed messages to both his European allies and the Americans about what real peace requires.

Section 1. Gratitude and the PEARL Program

Zelenskyy opens with a striking display of gratitude, something notable given he was previously criticised for not being thankful enough during a White House visit in 2025. He thanks allies by name, singling out Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands for their leadership in providing air defence systems, and gives a special shout-out to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, saying with a smile that if you are a European leader and you meet Rutte, you will definitely hear the word PEARL, and not just once. PEARL is the programme that allows Ukraine to purchase Patriot missiles from the United States and other weapons to defend against Russian attacks, and it is funded by Europe. Zelenskyy makes a powerful point about what wartime scarcity really feels like, describing how one of the worst things a leader can hear is a report from the air force commander saying the air defence units are empty. Empty, he says, because they used all their missiles stopping Russian strikes and there was no resupply, while intelligence is warning a new massive attack may come in a day or two. He says sometimes new missiles arrive just before an attack, sometimes at the very last moment. The cost of PEARL this year alone is around 15 billion dollars, or 12 billion euros.

Section 2. The Scale of Russian Attacks

This is where Zelenskyy uses dramatic visualisation to show the assembled leaders exactly what Ukraine faces. He describes a single night's attack where Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles, one air-launched guided missile, and a staggering 219 attack drones at Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odessa. He emphasises that this is just one night, but Russian attacks happen almost every night, with massive combined strikes at least once a week. Ukraine has now endured 1,451 days of full-scale war, longer than anyone predicted. In January 2026 alone, Ukraine had to defend against 6,000 attack drones, most of them Shaheds, more than 150 Russian missiles of different types, and over 5,000 glide bombs. He asks the audience to imagine this over their own cities, with shattered streets, destroyed homes, and schools built underground. Not a single power plant in Ukraine has been left undamaged by Russian attacks, he says. Not one. But Ukraine still generates electricity, thanks to thousands of energy workers and repair crews who fix things immediately after strikes. He says many politicians could learn from ordinary rescuers and electricians about how to act immediately during a crisis.

Section 3. The Evolution of Weapons and the Drone War

Zelenskyy provides a fascinating technical briefing on how Russian weapons have evolved during the war. When Iran first supplied Shahed drones to Russia, they were simple weapons that could be shut down easily. Now the Shahed has a jet engine, can fly at different altitudes, can be guided by an operator in real time, and can even use Starlink to reach its target. Perhaps most alarmingly, it can now carry other drones, acting as a mother drone for smaller FPV attack drones. He makes the broader philosophical point that the longer a war continues and the more resources an aggressor receives, the more dangerous the evolution of weapons becomes, and the more dangerous the evolution of Putin himself. Ukraine currently shoots down nearly 90 percent of incoming Shahed drones, an extraordinary figure, but not 100 percent, and the goal is to produce enough interceptors to make Shahed drones meaningless to Russia. He shows real footage of Ukrainian interceptors in action and stresses the word together, saying no country in Europe could defend itself alone in a full-scale war. He frames unity itself as the best interceptor against Russia's aggressive plans.

Section 4. Owning the Clock and the Price of Delay

This is one of the most politically charged sections of the speech. Zelenskyy directly references Bob Woodward's book War, quoting former US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's claim that America owned the clock, controlling the pace of the conflict and the risk of escalation. Zelenskyy's tone is one of restrained frustration as he describes how Ukraine had to push and push and push to be allowed stronger weapons. Months for HIMARS, months for tanks, years for aircraft. Everything took time, he says, and in war, the war itself owns time and uses it against people. He is grateful for what was supplied but makes clear that the drip-feed approach did not make the situation easier for anyone. He then draws a sharp parallel with Iran, noting that despite the Iranian regime selling Shahed drones that kill Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, the regime still exists because it was given time. When regimes like Iran have time, they only kill more, Zelenskyy says. They must be stopped immediately. And this is exactly what should have happened with the Ayatollah and with Putin, after the war in Georgia, after Syria, after 2014 and the occupation of Crimea.

Section 5. The Cost on the Ground and a Message to Putin

Zelenskyy presents stark battlefield statistics. In December alone, Ukrainian forces eliminated 35,000 Russian soldiers, killed and badly wounded. In January the figure was around 30,000. He reveals a striking metric: Russia currently pays 156 soldiers for every single kilometre of Ukrainian territory it advances on the Donetsk front. Putin is not concerned about this now, Zelenskyy says, but there is a level at which he will start to care. Russia mobilises about 40,000 to 43,000 troops per month, and not all of them reach the front line, meaning the overall size of the Russian contingent in Ukraine is not growing this year. Ukraine's goal is specific: at least 50,000 Russian casualties per month. He quotes former Munich Security Conference chair Wolfgang Ischinger, who said that as long as Ukraine is defending Europe, the danger is not so great. Zelenskyy acknowledges this but adds forcefully, look at the price. Look at the pain Ukraine has gone through. He says Ukrainians are holding the European front, and behind them stands an independent Poland, the free Baltic states, Moldova and Romania without dictatorship. He even takes a memorable swipe at Hungary's Viktor Orban, saying that even one Victor can think about how to grow his belly, not how to grow his army to stop Russian tanks from returning to the streets of Budapest. But he insists Ukrainians are people, not terminators, and it is wrong to assume this is a permanent arrangement.

Section 6. Putin's Psychology and Security Guarantees

Zelenskyy offers a striking psychological portrait of Putin, saying he no longer lives like ordinary people. He does not walk the streets, you will not see him in a cafe, his grandchildren do not go to normal kindergartens. He cannot imagine life without power or after power. In a memorable line, Zelenskyy says Putin consults more with Tsar Peter and Empress Catherine about territorial gains than with any living person about real life. He asks the audience, can you imagine Putin without war? And answers: he is a slave to war. If he lives another 10 years, war can return or expand. This is precisely why there must be real security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe. Zelenskyy states clearly that the agreement on security guarantees should come before any agreement to end the war, because those guarantees answer the main question: how long will there be no war again? He says directly, we hope President Trump hears us. We hope the Congress hears us. We hope the American people hear us.

Section 7. Negotiations, Concessions, and the Munich 1938 Warning

The speech turns to the current state of negotiations. Zelenskyy says he truly hopes the trilateral meetings the following week will be serious and substantive. But he is candid about the problems. The Russians speak about some spirit of Anchorage, and we can only guess what they really mean. The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine, not Russia. He says Europe is practically not present at the table, calling this a big mistake, and reveals it is actually Ukraine that is trying to bring Europe fully into the process. He then delivers what may be the most powerful line of the speech, drawing a direct parallel with 1938. It seems Putin hopes to repeat Munich, he says, not Munich 2007 when they only spoke about dividing Europe, but Munich 1938 when the previous Putin began dividing Europe in reality. It would be an illusion to believe this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine, just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a great war.

Section 8. Before the Invasion and the Dig Trenches Story

Zelenskyy shares a revealing anecdote from before the full-scale invasion. He says he sent his commander-in-chief at the time, General Zaluzhny, to speak with the American side and explain what Ukraine needed to defend itself. Tell them we need Javelins, Stingers, and real weapons, Zelenskyy says he told him. Something real to stop the Russian army. But the most practical advice General Milley could give Ukraine at that time was simply dig trenches. Zelenskyy pauses for effect. Just imagine, he says, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops on your borders, massive military equipment, and all you hear is dig trenches. He then turns this into a challenge for NATO itself: if Russian troops enter Lithuania or another country on NATO's eastern flank, what will the allies hear? Will they hear that help is on the way, or will they hear dig trenches? He makes the case for NATO membership, saying the Ukrainian army is the strongest army in Europe and it is simply not smart to keep this army outside NATO. But at the very least, he adds to applause, let that be your decision, not Putin's decision.

Section 9. Mark Rutte's Response and the Human Cost

Following Zelenskyy's address, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte takes the floor and shares powerful personal observations from a recent visit to Kyiv. He describes seeing the impact of five Russian missiles that destroyed a huge central heating plant responsible for heating the homes of a quarter of a million people. With temperatures hitting minus 25 degrees Celsius at night, those people were left without heat for at least two months. Despite this, Rutte says, the people told him to keep supporting them, saying they would never give in. He also recounts visiting Chernihiv, which was occupied for four to six weeks after the invasion, where 150 people were kept in the basement of a school in a space the size of three rows of conference seats, sitting only on chairs. Ten people died in that room and could not be buried for six weeks. Rutte also mentions Patron, the famous mine-sniffing dog who has become a hero of Ukraine, adding with characteristic Dutch humour that even the dog told him Ukraine would never give in. On the military situation, Rutte stresses that Russia is not winning, losing 65,000 soldiers in December and January combined while making gains in Donetsk so small they are almost not relevant. He makes the case that allies must ensure Ukraine has both offensive capability and the air defence to protect cities, emphasising that Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure are designed specifically to create chaos so front-line soldiers worry about their families back home.

Section 10. The Bigger Picture and European Defence

Throughout the speech, Zelenskyy weaves in a broader argument about European defence. He highlights joint weapons production initiatives already underway, mentioning the Danish model of investing in weapons production inside Ukraine, joint drone production with Germany that started just the day before, the joint artillery initiative with the Czech Republic, and cooperation with Nordic countries, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the US, Canada, Turkey, and Japan. He praises Europe's commitment of 90 billion euros over two years for Ukraine. But he also identifies a critical vulnerability: Russian oil tankers still move freely along European shores in the Baltic, North, and Mediterranean seas, with more than a thousand tankers effectively acting as floating wallets for the Kremlin. He says he has discussed updating European legislation with President Macron and others to allow tankers not just to be detained but blocked and confiscated, as the United States does. Without oil money, Putin would not have money for this war, he says simply. He closes by saying Ukraine is ready for a deal that brings real peace, but insists it must come with dignity, and that the main thing is that in four years the civilised world is not forced to justify itself again and look for someone else to blame.

Key Takeaways

Zelenskyy delivered one of his most comprehensive and politically nuanced speeches at Munich, combining battlefield statistics, technical detail, historical parallels, and direct messages to multiple audiences simultaneously. The core demand is clear: security guarantees must come before any peace deal. The PEARL programme is the lifeline for Ukrainian air defence, costing 15 billion dollars this year, funded by European allies. Russia is losing roughly 30,000 to 35,000 soldiers per month but Putin remains undeterred. Zelenskyy's Munich 1938 parallel was his sharpest warning against territorial concessions. He wants Europe at the negotiating table, noting it is practically absent. NATO membership remains his ultimate goal, with the Ukrainian army described as the strongest in Europe. And his message to the Americans was carefully calibrated, expressing gratitude while pushing back on the idea that concessions should come primarily from Ukraine rather than Russia. The speech was followed by strong backing from NATO Secretary General Rutte, who reinforced the message with personal testimony from Kyiv and Chernihiv.