Fridrik Jonsson

With all eyes on Iran, Putin continues his murderous campaign against Ukraine and Ukrainians. 60+ missiles, including ballistic, kalibr and zircon as well as over 300 drones primarily targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Earlier today, Swedish Coast Guard boarded another vessel in our territorial waters – the fifth intervention in a short period of time. The vessel is suspected of being part of the Russian shadow fleet and for sailing under false flag. There are also concerns regarding insufficient seaworthiness and insurance. The vessel is included on the sanctions lists of the EU, the UK and Ukraine. We protect our waters.

We are now finding our own sanctions formats against Russia’s shadow fleet. And this morning, we demonstrated our results – what Ukraine was able to achieve overnight. But partner sanctions are also needed. For example, the United Kingdom is doing this the right way, and it is important for us that they help other partners respond accordingly. In particular, we are discussing this today with Prime Minister Starmer and other partners during the visit to Armenia. This visit is the first in the past 24 years. That means an entire generation has grown up in both Ukraine and Armenia during this time. Nevertheless, it is important that the visit is taking place, and that it coincides with the arrival of many other European – and not only European – leaders in Yerevan to take part in the European Political Community Summit. For the first time, Armenia is hosting the European Political Community Summit. The fact that so many countries have come together in this way is certainly a strong European signal to Russia. Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney has also arrived. A meeting with him is scheduled for tomorrow. It is important that we all coordinate in a substantive way. From a conversation with the media ahead of the meeting with Keir Starmer.

Another Russian ‘Kalibr’ carrier down. Major General Yevhenii Khmara reported on the successful strike against targets in the port of Primorsk. It was a joint operation by our Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, the Defense Intelligence, and the border guards. Thank you all, warriors, for your coordinated work! The Karakurt-class missile ship was hit, along with a patrol boat and another tanker from the shadow oil fleet. Significant damage was also inflicted on the infrastructure of the oil terminal port. Each such result further limits Russia’s war potential. I have also approved additional, entirely justified responses by the Security Service of Ukraine to Russian strikes on our cities and villages. Russia can end its war at any moment. Prolonging the war will only expand the scale of our defensive operations. Thank you to everyone fighting for Ukraine!

Our warriors continue to apply sanctions against Russia’s shadow oil fleet – two such vessels were struck in the waters at the entrance to the port of Novorossiysk. These tankers had been actively used to transport oil – not anymore. I am grateful to Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov for leading the operation, to the counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine, and to our Navy for consistently delivering effective results. Ukraine’s long-range capabilities will continue to be developed comprehensively – at sea, in the air, and on land. Glory to Ukraine!

Yesterday, there was rather unusual activity along sections of the Ukraine–Belarus border – on the Belarusian side. We are closely documenting everything and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react. Ukraine is ready to defend its people and its sovereignty. Everyone who is being drawn into any aggressive actions against Ukraine must understand this.

Washington has warned European allies, including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, to expect long delivery delays for US weapons — including Nasms and Himars — as it scrambles to replenish stockpiles depleted by the Iran war. Deliveries to Ukriane have already been delayed. w/ @FT colleagues ft.com/content/f87a8b…

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Putin will agree to a durable ceasefire only under two conditions. First: the front stalls. No gains = no victory narrative at home. No narrative = rising anger. Second: Russia’s economy cracks to the point where he is forced to pause to preserve internal stability. So Trump’s idea of a short ceasefire sounds good. Even something is always better than nothing. But there will be no lasting ceasefire until the front stops and Russia’s economy breaks.

We will go after Russia’s shadow grain fleet and its enablers across all geographies. According to available data, between January and April 2026 alone, 25 vessels from the Russian grain fleet made approximately 50 direct voyages from closed Ukrainian ports in the temporarily occupied territories to ports in third countries. Most of these trips were for the purpose of transporting illegal grain shipments. During this period, over 850.000 tons of grain were exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine. More than 50% of this total was illegally transported from a single closed port in the city of Sevastopol. An additional 13% of the total volume was shipped from the Azov Sea ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk. We know about the vessels, the companies, the owners, and other details. We see how Russia attempts to avoid responsibility by turning off transponders, spoofing coordinates, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers to conceal the illegal sale of stolen Ukrainian grain. We will not let this pass. Ukraine has consistently addressed the issue of closed seaports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov within the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In particular, IMO Assembly Resolution A.1183(33) of December 4th, 2023, called upon Member States to inform their vessels, shipowners, ship operators, and insurance brokers of the need to refrain from violating the regime of closed seaports and to conduct investigations into alleged breaches of this regime. Furthermore, Ukraine has its own very painful historical sensitivity to stolen grain. Our nation has experienced a genocide by hunger, the Holodomor, in which grain was taken away from our people. We warn all entities and nations that we will react strongly to any theft of our grain. That is why Ukraine will step up its efforts to counter Russia's shadow grain fleet, initiating new sanctions in the EU, G7, and other jurisdictions on everyone involved in this theft and illegal trade. We will be working with partners to update relevant lists and ensure targeted and severe restrictions.

A report by the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Oleh Luhovskyi. We have recorded an updated level of Russian export losses resulting from Ukraine’s long-range sanctions, specifically: Port of Primorsk – down 13% in throughput, Novorossiysk – down 38%, Ust-Luga – down 43%. We believe these internal Russian figures may be understated. For our part, we will continue the operation to reduce Russia’s oil revenues and export volumes. Second – we have obtained Russian documents outlining their efforts to counter our engagement with partners within the framework of Drone Deals. The Russian political leadership has already identified Ukraine’s ability to attract additional investment as one of the main challenges, and cutting Ukraine off from investment and disrupting our bilateral agreements on cooperation in security and weapons production has been defined by Russia as a foreign policy priority. Particular efforts in this regard will be directed at undermining our cooperation in the Middle East and the Gulf. Third – Russian contingents in African countries have recently increased by an additional 8,000 personnel, and Russia is attempting to introduce the use of drones in each country of deployment through supply, local production, and training. According to our assessment, the expansion of such military activity by Russia could, unfortunately, inevitably lead to the modernization and strengthening of terrorist organizations, cross-border crime, and instability in regions of the world that are critically important in terms of migration. It is important to counter this together – we will coordinate with partners. Glory to Ukraine!

Ukrainian Nazi’s, it’s just lazy Journalism- This Ottawa Citizen piece leans into a familiar narrative, one that has circulated since 2014, and in doing so risks repeating the same oversimplifications long exploited by Russian information campaigns. To understand Azov in 2026, you need scale and context, two things often missing from headlines designed to grab attention rather than inform. At its height, Azov Brigade was never some dominant force shaping Ukraine’s military or politics. In its earlier years, the unit numbered roughly a couple of thousand personnel. I know this not from a distance, but because I was an instructor with the National Guard, specifically with Azov, from 2018 to 2020, before becoming a Ukrainian Marine and before the full-scale invasion. That matters, because in a country of more than 40 million people, reducing Ukraine’s war effort to the words “Ukraine,” “Azov” and “Nazi” is not just lazy journalism, it is cheap framing. Yes, Azov’s origins are controversial. In 2014, elements around the unit were associated with far-right ideology. That should not be ignored. But stopping the analysis there, and presenting it as a fixed characteristic in 2026, is either wrong or deliberately misleading. Since being incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard in 2014, Azov has undergone structural and institutional changes. Even the name itself is often misunderstood, it comes from the Sea of Azov, the region where the unit originally operated, not the other way around. Ironically, this is also a predominantly Russian-Ukrainian mixed-speaking area, where Surzhyk is common. It’s where I lived, and part of why I learned that form of Ukrainian. During my time there, I received no ideological training of the kind often implied in Western reporting. Frankly, had I encountered that, I would have left as quickly as I arrived. What I saw was not a “Nazi battalion,” but a unit that had already changed significantly from the caricature Russia had worked so hard to export. The fixation on Azov also disproportionately amplifies one formation while ignoring the broader reality of Ukraine’s armed forces. Millions of Ukrainians have served or are serving across regular brigades, territorial defence, border units, Marines, airborne forces and countless other formations. To take one controversial unit and extrapolate it into a national characteristic is not analysis, it is distortion. And we should ask why that distortion keeps reappearing. For years, Russian propaganda has pushed grotesque claims about Ukraine and Azov, from “Nazis everywhere” to organ trafficking and other absurd conspiracies. When media outlets repeat simplified, sensationalist framing without proper context, they do not merely inform readers, they risk reinforcing narratives pushed by the very state currently invading Ukraine. Scrutiny is fair, any military unit with controversial origins should be examined, but, scrutiny requires proportion, accuracy and context. Azov was founded in the chaos of 2014, among unpaid Ukrainian nationalists, football ultras and volunteers resisting Russia’s armed intervention in eastern Ukraine. There was far-right influence in those early circles, for sure, but by 2018, the unit I saw was far more representative of modern Ukraine, diverse in background, region and religion, including those of Crimean origin. That is the story the headline misses. By centring “neo-Nazi links” without properly addressing scale, evolution or the broader reality of Ukraine’s military, the piece risks misleading readers into conclusions the facts do not support. Ukraine is not defined by Azov, it never has been, and journalism should know better than to recycle the Kremlin’s favourite shortcut, be it in one, catchy, misinforming headline. ottawacitizen.com/public-service…

“Chornobyl” is the only correct spelling Ukraine asks the world to use. Using Ukrainian transliterations respects Ukraine’s language and culture and moves away from Russian forms that were imposed by Russia during the Soviet era. It is also part of a wider effort to decolonise language and correct long-standing imbalances in global usage. Using the correct transliteration for a place in Ukraine affirms recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign state – a fact Russia tries to deny. We welcome the decision of states and international organisations to adopt the Ukrainian spelling of Chornobyl, including in the UN resolution of December 10, 2025. Like Kyiv, Chornobyl reflects Ukrainian pronunciation and thus aligns with the global practice of updating place names for linguistic correctness. The successful shift from the Russian spelling “Kiev” to the Ukrainian “Kyiv” is a clear example of this trend. All Ukrainian cities deserve to have their names rendered correctly. #ChornobylNotChernobyl #Chornobyl40

The Russians have turned our Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant – the largest plant in Europe – into an instrument of their war. They launch attacks from there against our cities and villages, store weapons, ammunition, and military equipment at the plant, mined its perimeter, and are effectively holding our city of Enerhodar hostage. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has already gone through a full blackout fourteen times. When the world deals with Russia, everyone must understand that they are dealing with a completely irresponsible – and in many ways simply reckless – force that must be truly constrained for the sake of the security of us all. That is why global sanctions must be strong, resistance to evil must be strong, and support for those defending lives must also be sufficiently strong. The very fact that the Russians even went so far as to strike the confinement structure that covers the remains of the fourth power unit with a drone shows that Russia cannot be a participant in civilized international relations. From an address marking the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster (2/3)

No one could have imagined that decades after Chornobyl – after everything countries have done to ensure radiation safety and protect lives – someone would want to turn Chornobyl, the facilities that remain here, and the Exclusion Zone itself into a territory of war. And the worst thing is that when the Russians came to Chornobyl, it became clear that they had absolutely no understanding of where they had come and what this place was. This is important to understand about today’s Russia – about this state, about what remains of their culture, and about how they treat people, how they treat life as a whole. The Russians tried to advance on Kyiv through this territory and seize the capital. They dug military positions here in restricted forests, drove military equipment across this land, deployed artillery here and fired from this area, destroyed equipment, and abused our people who work at the Chornobyl plant and associated facilities. Some of our Ukrainian servicemembers, including those from the National Guard of Ukraine who were guarding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, are still, unfortunately, in captivity in Russia. From an address marking the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster (1/3)

During the International #Chornobyl40 Conference on Recovery and Nuclear Safety, the mobilization of funds for the restoration of the New Safe Confinement was launched. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of restoring and strengthening the confinement’s safety after the Russian drone strike in February 2025 is around €500 million. Within the conference framework, an agreement was signed with the @EBRD for €30 million for the first stage of restoration — damage assessment, development of technical solutions, and design, enabling the launch of necessary works and early procurement of equipment. Partners also announced initial pledges totaling nearly €100 million. These funds will be directed toward restoring the safe confinement at the Chornobyl NPP and strengthening nuclear safety in 🇺🇦 Following the conference, a joint statement was adopted, with 24 countries supporting Ukraine’s efforts to mobilize resources for the restoration. I am deeply grateful to the EBRD, @IAEA, the European Union, partner governments, and all those supporting Ukraine in responding to the consequences of #russian attacks while strengthening the resilience of the energy system. Solidarity with Ukraine in energy and nuclear safety is a shared investment in Europe’s security. ______ Під час Міжнародної Чорнобильської конференції з питань відновлення та ядерної безпеки розпочали мобілізацію коштів на відновлення Нового безпечного конфайнменту. За попередніми підрахунками, вартість відновлення та посилення безпеки конфайнменту після удару російського дрона в лютому 2025 року становить близько 500 млн євро. У межах конференції підписали угоду з ЄБРР про 30 млн євро на перший етап відновлення конфайнменту — оцінку пошкоджень, розробку рішень та проєктування, що дозволяє розпочати необхідні роботи та здійснювати завчасну закупівлю обладнання. Також партнери взяли на себе перші зобовʼязання на суму майже 100 млн євро. Ці кошти будуть спрямовані на відновлення безпечного конфайнменту на ЧАЕС та підвищення ядерної безпеки в Україні. За підсумками конференції ухвалили спільну заяву, якою країни-партнери підтримали прагнення України мобілізувати ресурси на відновлення конфайнменту. До заяви долучились 24 країни. Надзвичайно вдячний ЄБРР за лідерську роль у процесі мобілізації фінансового ресурсу. Окремо хочу подякувати МАГАТЕ, Європейському Союзу, урядам держав-партнерів і всім, хто допомагає Україні реагувати на наслідки російських атак і одночасно посилювати стійкість енергосистеми. Солідарність із Україною у сфері енергетики і ядерної безпеки — це спільна інвестиція в безпеку Європи.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic Chernobyl incident, which left a lasting mark on the conscience of humanity. It serves as a warning about the inherent risks in the use of increasingly powerful technologies. We entrust those who died and all who still suffer from the aftermath of the disaster to God’s mercy. I hope that discernment and responsibility will always prevail at every level of decision-making, so that every use of atomic energy may be placed at the service of life and #Peace.

The solar panels destroyed by Israel's army are used to provide the Lebanese town of Debl with electricity, as well as supply power to its water station. The IDF says the actions seen in the video do not align with their values. 🔗 trib.al/PCHqQAT

A solemn event at which I had the honor to participate and represent Iceland… 🇺🇦🇮🇸

Together with the President of Moldova, @sandumaiamd, we honored the memory of the liquidators of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Eternal honor to all those who, at the cost of their lives, saved Ukraine and all of Europe from the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe.

During a meeting with IAEA Director General @rafaelmgrossi, I emphasized the unacceptability of formalizing and legitimizing Russia’s presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. We discussed temporary shutdowns of nuclear power plant units, reductions in their output, and the potential consequences of these criminal actions. For safe operation, the plant must be returned to the management of Ukraine’s licensed operator and nuclear regulator. We agreed to continue IAEA missions to ensure continuous monitoring of the plant’s condition. I am grateful to Rafael Grossi and the Agency’s team for their visit to our country on the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.