The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address on the occasion of Ukrainian Statehood Day, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“For us, living in captivity is not living. Being dependent is not being. Because a non-independent and unfree Ukraine is not Ukraine. We do not know the word ‘slavery’. It is in our dictionaries, but not in our heads. We will give our last shirt, we will give everything we have for what is in our heart. That is why we will fight for our statehood to the last – the last breath, the last bullet, the last soldier. Not ours, but the enemy’s,” Zelensky said.
In his words, Ukrainians will live to fight and fight to live, and will not give up until they drive the last occupier out of their home.
“We will not stop until we liberate the last meter of Ukrainian land. We will not rest until we liberate our last village, our last house, our last well, our last cherry tree, our last willow tree!” the President of Ukraine noted.
According to Zelensky, things will be so, because for Ukrainians and Russian occupiers “all this has completely different, polar meanings. Targets for them are shrines for us. Unknown names on the map for them are places familiar from childhood for us. They fulfill other people’s criminal orders, we fulfill our sacred duty.”
“We are fighting for different things, so the end of this battle will also be different for both of us. By meaning. And even by the sound. In Russian, this is the failure of a special operation. In Ukrainian, this is victory in the war! That is why it will happen. That is why our state will exist,” the President of Ukraine stressed.
Zelensky congratulated Ukrainians on Day of Christianization of Kyivan Rus’-Ukraine and Day of Ukrainian Statehood.
“The great people of the great country and the great state, which existed on this land from time immemorial, and from time immemorial there have been attempts to both enslave and destroy it. By many people and many times. And which has not allowed it to be done from time immemorial. Never to anyone. The state in which the history of Christianity in Eastern Europe began, when it was baptized 1034 years ago by the Great Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv. The state in which the history of indomitability began, which is now admired by all of Europe and the whole world. This is our state. Our country. This is Ukraine,” Zelensky told.
The history of Ukraine’s state formation dates back thousands of years. But only this year Ukrainians are marking Day of Ukrainian Statehood for the first time. Zelensky stressed that Ukrainians need neither fireworks nor pomp to show the importance of statehood for the Ukrainian people.
“Today we defend it with weapons in hands. For 155 days in a row. We can say that for us, Statehood Day is every day. Every day we fight so that everyone on the planet finally understands: we are not a colony, not an enclave, not a protectorate. Not a gubernia, an eyalet or a crown land, not a part of foreign empires, not a ‘part of the land’, not a union republic. Not an autonomy, not a province, but a free, independent, sovereign, indivisible and independent state,” the President of Ukraine emphasized.
Zelensky outlined the main historic events, which had laid the basis for Ukraine’s statehood, and noted: “All stages of the history of Ukraine’s statehood, its defense and struggle for it can be described in one sentence: we existed, exist and will exist! We will exist, because our state has incredible sons and daughters who have stood up for its defense.”
Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
