The Prime Minister opened with the acknowledgement that people were dying in Ukraine at this very moment. "Not only soldiers, but also civilians, mothers and children. The Russian army has been shelling and carrying out air raids on civilian objects, shooting at civilians offering resistance to Russian tanks barehanded. The videos we have seen of today are horrific. However, we can take encouragement from the courageous Ukrainians, who have been standing up to Russian tanks unarmed. It reminds me of the courageous Slovenians in the Vipava Valley thirty and a half years ago, when Slovenia faced a similar ordeal."

He continued, that when Slovenians were overwhelmed with feelings of unity and courage back then, we knew we would make it through. "We said it might take some time, but we will never surrender and we will win in the end. And we did win. However, the tension, threats, fear and victims of those June days still live in our memories. So, we can relate to the Ukrainians and we stand in heartfelt solidarity with them, and implore them to hang on."

In his speech, he also recalled the events of yesterday as a Russian shell hit the Slovenian consulate in Kharkiv. "Late at night, I spoke with the Ukrainian Prime Minister. He told me that he had just spoken with the Ukrainian Health Minister, who had been crying into his phone as, just minutes before, a Russian shell had hit the car carrying Ukraine’s best and most renowned cardiologist, who had saved the life of a wounded Russian soldier in the hospital just moments before death. On the way home, she was struck by a Russian shell." The Prime Minister added that yesterday a Russian shell had also hit a building, killing 60 children inside. "Today, we have been receiving word of such events throughout the day."

"Therefore, Ukrainians today are not only fighting for freedom, democracy and a European future, but for their lives. When lives are in danger, so is everything else. Those who have left Kyiv in the last few days told us that they were surprised." The highway from Kyiv to the Polish border is full, as well as a part of the highway from the Polish border to Kyiv. "Tens of thousands of men and boys working across Europe are returning home to defend Ukraine. According to the latest information, the number is 80,000. In a war, you can beat someone who retreats and runs away, but you cannot beat someone in a situation where people are leaving safe European cities en masse to defend their homeland, so Mr Putin has already lost this war. Nevertheless, all efforts have to be undertaken to make this war as short as possible, to facilitate negotiations, to negotiate peace and the Russian army’s retreat from Ukraine, and to establish peace, while looking into the future and not into the past."

Prime Minister Janša continued by listing the reasons dictator, Putin, had for invading Ukraine. "The real reasons for Putin's invasion of Ukraine lie not just in Putin's fear of a European Ukraine, where freedom and democracy also spilling over to influence the domestic situation in Russia, but they are rather similar to the reasons other dictators have used for starting wars in the past. That is dangerous and we have to be aware of it. Therefore, we have to realise how important it is for Ukraine to successfully fend off the attack and prevent the war from spreading to other countries."

"Putin attacked Ukraine because, at the European level, the country has the largest reserves of uranium ore, the largest amount of fertile soil, and the second-largest reserves of titanium ore. Ukraine has the third-largest reserves of shale gas in Europe and is also the third-largest European producer of nuclear energy. But Ukraine is also important for the entirety of global civilisation. It has the second-largest reserves of iron ore in the world and is the world's third-largest exporter. Furthermore, it has the second-largest reserves of manganese ore and the seventh largest reserves of coal in the world. In terms of mineral resources, Ukraine is the world’s fourth-richest country. Additionally, it has the third-largest area of fertile black soil in the world and owns 25% of the world's most fertile land. The country is currently the third-largest exporter of grains in the world and has the potential to produce food for 600 million people. At the global level, Ukraine is also the fourth-largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants. For centuries to millennia, dictators have invaded neighbouring countries in order to steal their wealth and strengthen themselves. After invading a neighbouring country, they continued on. Anyone who thinks that Putin should be permitted to take over Ukraine, believing that the sanctions will then be enough stop him, has learnt nothing from history. If Putin manages to take Ukraine, the next in line will be Georgia, Moldova and the Baltic countries, perhaps even the Balkans. All the places where Europe has not expanded, wherever the security umbrella provided by NATO has not been put in place."

He added that if Hitler had been stopped after having invaded Poland with Stalin in 1939, the war would still have happened, but it would not have lasted six years and claimed tens of millions of lives, and the dictator would have been stopped at the beginning at a thousand-times-lower cost. "This is what the history of the last century, this century, and recent decades taught us: if peace, democracy and freedom do not expand, if the European Union does not expand, then someone else will. This is why the enlargement of the European Union to include all countries on the European continent is a strategic political response to the current strategic political challenge." The Prime Minister also expressed great joy in seeing a completely changed European Union in the last couple of days. "What seemed impossible last week is possible today. The 27 Member States of the European Union are united in this response, we are united in the NATO alliance." He recalled that no alliance is ideal, that there are many conflicts and problems, which have now all been put aside to stand firmly together. "This is by far the best hope and guarantee for future peace. It is by far the greatest guarantee that the war will not spread, by far the greatest guarantee that we will not have to again experience the atrocities that took place on our territory in 1991. By helping Ukraine to defend itself, we are thus also defending Slovenia and Europe, we are defending peace in Europe and the world, and we are defending the future of present generations and all the generations to come. We will do everything in power to succeed in this endeavour."

At the end of his speech, Prime Minister Janša thanked the participants of the nationwide rally. "Let us do all that we can through these aid measures." The Prime Minister also gave his thanks for the many letters and messages he received. He said that he has received many calls from people who wanted to help the Ukrainian refugees directly Ukraine and volunteers have also been stepping up to help. "There has been no such unity in Slovenia or in Europe in recent decades. Let us continue to help Ukrainians, let us stand with them in every moment. This aggression may drag on for some time, but the Russian war machine is not as immensely powerful as some imagine. However, it is not a paper tiger either." He also said that our solidarity and assistance must persevere and that we must not forget everything that has happened in a few days. "Let us do everything in our power to ensure that Ukraine endures, because Ukraine is fighting for us too. Thank you for your support. God bless Slovenia. Glory to Ukraine!"