President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians in an emotional speech celebrating 31 years of independence on Wednesday that his country was “reborn” when Russia invaded and that he would never give up his fight for freedom from Moscow’s domination. .
In a recorded speech released on the six-month anniversary of the February 24 Russian invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine no longer saw the end of the war with fighting ceasing, but with Kiev finally emerging victorious.
“A new nation appeared in the world on February 24 at 4 am. Not born, but reborn. A nation that didn’t cry, scream or be scared. One that didn’t run away. Do not give up. And he hasn’t forgotten,” he said.
The 44-year-old Ukrainian leader delivered the speech in combat fatigues in front of the imposing monument to independence from the Russian-dominated Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991, in central Kiev.
Zelensky highlighted Ukraine’s war stance, which opposes any kind of compromise that would allow Moscow to make territorial gains, including swaths of southern and eastern Ukraine captured in the past six months.
“We are not going to sit at the negotiating table out of fear, with a gun to our heads. For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, planes and tanks, but handcuffs. Not trenches, but shackles,” he said.
He promised that Ukraine would regain lost territory in the eastern industrial Donbass region, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
“What for us is the end of the war? We used to say: peace. Now we say: victory,” she said.
Ukrainians are bracing for a protracted war – and a brutal winter of power shortages – after repelling Russian forces at the start of what Moscow describes as a “special military operation” and preventing Kiev’s fall.
Western military sources now say Russian forces are making little progress in their offensive operation in Ukraine’s eastern and southern territories, comparing the fighting to the slow, bloody and exhausting fighting of World War I.
The streets of central Kiev were eerily empty on Wednesday morning after days of dire warnings that Russia could launch new missile attacks on major cities. An air raid siren sounded in the capital at 10:40 am local time.
Source: CNN Brasil
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