The Ukrainian president's comments come ahead of the second day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Meanwhile, he also hailed advances made at the front line.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked allies, including the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, for pledging support packages on the first day of a London-hosted conference on Ukrainian recovery.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said the conference, which continues Thursday, aimed to garner international business support for Ukraine's transformation.
"Ukraine's task is to transform the moral leadership of our people into the economic leadership of our country," Zelenskyy said. "All the prerequisites for this exist, first of all, in our people, in our beautiful strong nation."
Day one of the two-day conference saw the UK announcing a $3 billion (approximately €2.75 billion) package over the next three years. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recapped the EU executive's support package for Ukraine of €50 billion over the next four years.
Germany pledged €381 million in humanitarian assistance this year, and France €40 million. The United States will provide more than $1.3 billion in additional aid.
The conference, the second to be held since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is attended by leaders and representatives from over 60 countries.
Addressing matters on the ground, Zelenskyy also expressed his gratitude to Ukrainian troops for "every shot down Russian helicopter."
He said forces were "advancing in the South," and defenses "firming in the East."
Ukraine damages key Crimea bridge: Russian officials
Ukrainian forces have carried out a missile attack on a bridge connecting Ukraine's Kherson region and Crimea, Russia-appointed officials in both regions said on Friday.
The Chongar bridge, connecting Russian-held parts of the Kherson region with the Crimean peninsula was struck, the officials said, adding that traffic was diverted to another route.
Russia-appointed governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the bridge was likely to have been attacked by Storm Shadow missiles that damaged the road. He added that no casualties were reported.
Crimea's governor, Sergey Aksyonov, said specialists were probing the site to see when traffic over the bridge could resume.
Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, years ahead of the full-scale invasion it launched in 2022.
Gas explosion rocks Kyiv residential building
A gas explosion demolished a number of apartments in a high-rise building in the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Thursday, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.
Serhii Popko, head of the administration, said the explosion was preliminarily believed to be due to a gas leak. The search for the victims was underway, Popko said.
Four apartments were destroyed, with six more damaged.
The administration shared photos on Telegram purportedly showing the affected building, with a number of middle floors clearly ablaze. It said there was one victim and 18 people rescued.
