The meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) will be held on Friday, February 19, at the premises of the President's Office (OP) at 11 Bankova Street.

"Threats to the national security of the state, which must be eliminated, require mandatory tough decisions within the limits determined by the Constitution of Ukraine and current legislation," the President’s Office reported on Saturday.

The message said that society should see the state, which absolutely knows the current risks and knows how to respond to them professionally and quickly.

"It is also obvious that, unfortunately, in the period until 2019, the Ukrainians clearly saw that the necessary decisions to protect national security were long overdue, but were postponed for political reasons. The lack of sufficient political will then laid many mines under the foundations of our statehood, which are in need of systemic opposition today," the message says.

It was also said that it is an unconditional priority for President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to fulfill the president's constitutional duty to ensure the national security of the state.

"The decisions that are made as a result of the collegial work of the National Security and Defense Council are fully consistent with the interests of Ukraine at this stage of development of our state," the message says.

As reported, the President of Ukraine instructed the NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov to start preparations for the NSDC meeting. Some of the questions will be considered behind closed doors.