Volodymyr Zelensky contrasts a free, people‑centered European model with the authoritarian model “to the east,” warning that Europe faces a stark choice between freedom and dependence and that current European protection is “insufficient” because every delay in support has deadly consequences. Turning to Belarus, he says “true security of life” has yet to be achieved there, quipping that Lukashenko’s white Spitz dog has more rights than Belarusians, and laments that the 2020 uprising failed partly because international support was “simply insufficient.” He warns that Belarus’s deepening dependence on Moscow has made things “more difficult, more expensive, more dangerous for everyone,” citing Russian Shahed‑type drone operators working from Belarusian territory, strike communications and Oreshnik missile blackmail routed via Belarus, and Belarusian industry and trade underpinning Russia’s war effort.