"Hundreds of mass graves found in Ukrainian city of Izyum retaken by Ukraine"
As soon as Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, our response was united, determined and immediate. And we should be proud of that. We've brought Europa's inner strength back to the surface.
And we're going to need all that strength. The next few months will not be easy. Whether it's families struggling to make ends meet or companies facing tough choices about their future. Let's be very clear: a lot is at stake here.
And I am here with the conviction that, with courage and solidarity, Putin will fail and Europe will prevail. Russia's financial sector is on life support. We cut off three-quarters of Russia's banking sector from international markets.
Almost a thousand international companies left the country. Car production is down three-quarters from last year. Aeroflot is grounding planes because there are no more spare parts.
The Russian military is taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military equipment because they have run out of semiconductors. Russia's industry is in shambles.
It was the Kremlin that put Russia's economy on the road to oblivion. A lesson from this war is that we should have listened to those who know Putin. Anna Politkovskaya and all Russian journalists who exposed the crimes and paid the ultimate price.
To our friends in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the opposition in Belarus. We should have listened to the voices within our Union – in Poland, in the Baltic countries and across Central and Eastern Europe. They've been telling us for years that Putin wouldn't stop. From 2022 State of the Union Address by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (14 September 2022). Read the full speech here