Zelenskyy on Independence Day: Enemy counted our resources and equipment, but failed to take key factor into account – our people. VIDEO
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Ukrainians on the 35th anniversary of independence.
The head of state made this statement in a video address, reports Censor.NET.
Full Text of the Address
Dear Ukrainians!
Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day. The thirty-fifth anniversary. A national holiday whose character has been profoundly altered by the war. One thousand six hundred and forty-three days of full-scale war.
Right now, things are truly very, very difficult for all of us, but some force—one that is, in fact, far from invisible—is holding us firmly by the hand. It is the power of a circle of mutual support—supporting one another, having no doubts about those who stand beside us, and faith in all Ukrainians. And as long as the enemy does not break this circle of ours, Ukraine will not fall. It will achieve its peace, and it will succeed.
In all his plans for Ukraine, Putin was wrong about the most important thing. The enemy counted our resources, our stockpiles, and our equipment, but failed to take into account the key factor: the people—the greatest achievement of Ukraine’s independence. The people who make up our nation. Who take responsibility. Who do not want Russia here, and who are fighting tooth and nail for peace and independence.
The "Russians" considered us their little brother, but life has proven that we are strangers to them. To them, all the traits of our character—everything that makes Ukrainians Ukrainian—are foreign.
They have no idea what it’s like when hundreds of thousands of volunteers step forward to defend their homeland. And those who were once teachers, entrepreneurs, or farmers become warriors. It is always an honor for me to receive a piece of their greatness and strength from such people. These insignias—and hundreds of thousands more on the shoulders of our defenders—are charged with a light that God sees in the heavens and that stands by our side.
Hundreds of thousands of names, destinies, and characters are holding the front line, holding our independence.
I thank all our soldiers who, all these years, all these days, and right now, at this very moment, are fighting to keep Ukraine alive.
You defended our capital; you liberated the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions, and a week ago, the entire Dnipropetrovsk region was liberated. You will not surrender our Donbas; you will not surrender Ukraine. You are the best defenders. You are the best army in Europe. Period.
And that is the absolute truth, because our military is not built solely on doctrines and standards—it also has a heart—a heart that needs no additional orders to be brave.
When you race in a pickup truck to rescue our wounded soldiers—who are already being hunted by Russian drones—and in less than a minute you pull out warriors—not even from your own unit, but certainly from your own kin. The Ukrainian kin. This act by Hero of Ukraine Vladislav Polskyi has spread throughout the entire country. We… we are already defeating Russia with all of this: with our will, our technology, our resilience, our dignity. With those pure feelings that live within us in spite of the war.
We’ve kept our tenderness, even though we could have become monsters. We’ve kept the habit of being the first to help, without asking if it’s your problem. We’ve kept our humanity. When the whole village comes out to welcome someone home from captivity. When an elderly couple takes a photo among the cherry blossoms. And when an Odessa minibus driver sings to his passengers to cheer them up after a night of shelling. When an entire village works together to restore a stork’s nest. When a comrade on a prosthetic leg is carried the last few meters to Hoverla by his brothers-in-arms, because that’s what it means to never abandon your own. When a son who has just learned to walk hugs his wounded soldier father.
All these moments—and hundreds more from our lives—are living proof: as a nation, we haven’t grown callous; as a nation, we fight, laugh, and cry; as a nation, we love. And that makes us a hundred times stronger than Russia.
And this little girl of ours is a hundred times stronger than all their tanks in parades. Taisiia Onofriichuk. She was five when Ukraine last won a world gold medal. Thirteen years later, it happened again. Despite all their attacks, all their destruction, all their evil, we find within ourselves this ability—the ability to triumph and achieve the impossible.
In a great war, there are no small deeds. And every such achievement by our people can actually set off thousands of chain reactions across the country.
Someone, inspired by these emotions, will return to their laptop or machine tool with renewed vigor so that our strength becomes more precise, faster, and more devastating to the enemy. To do even more.
In reality, our defense industry today is a giant that forges our independence 24/7. And we must do more. Tens of thousands of special forces are carrying out extremely dangerous missions on the front lines and have already saved thousands of soldiers. But we must do more. Our maritime drones are in action: the enemy had a fleet; now it’s becoming scrap metal. But we must sink more. Our middle strikes are cutting off their logistics. Our long-range capabilities are cutting off their profits. Moscow, Tuapse, Tula, Ryazan, "Olenya," Omsk, and dozens of other locations have already seen thousands of our deep strikes—places where our Ukrainian justice has already reached. Russia needs to see more of this justice. "Flamingos" should not be a rare species, but a common "bird." They should "winter" in Russia.
I thank everyone who has been working in manufacturing over the past four years—and right now—to build up our defense industry. This is our pride. But it does not blind us. We see what Putin is doing and what he wants. A solution to counter his ballistic terror must be found, and his gamble must not pay off.
Ukraine will do this. Ukraine has already overcome challenges that initially seemed insurmountable. Remember the day when 40 "Shaheds" first flew toward Kyiv. Some people cried out that it was the end, while others sought and found solutions. Now we’re shooting down over 90% of the "Shaheds." Russia has switched to jet-powered ones. We’re already shooting them down too, but we need to do so on a massive scale. The same goes for "banderols," and the same goes for their ballistic missiles. Ukraine is doing everything it can to achieve this. And it will succeed. Because it has proven time and again: our tenacity is beyond their capacity.
Behind these words stand millions of Ukrainians. Our finest virtues, skills, experience, and ability to improve, grow stronger, and keep moving forward despite everything.
I am proud of our people, who find the strength within themselves every morning to get up. To do what they can. To be where they must be.
And on this day, some are rushing to join the boys on the front lines, because war knows no weekends. Some are right now in the operating room, defeating death. And some woke up today before dawn to keep our streets clean, to harvest the crops in our fields, and to get ready for the school year—because in just one week, thousands of first-graders across Ukraine will hear the first bell ring. This is Ukraine, where life prevails despite the fifth year of full-scale war.
Ukraine remains true to itself. Ukraine is proud of its own. Of its Kharkiv—truly unconquered. Of its Dnipro—truly unstoppable, working and saving lives without pause. Of Zaporizhzhia and its steely resolve. Of Odesa, with the optimism of its people, who are capable of powering the sun and overcoming the Russian darkness. We are proud of all our cities: our Chernihiv, Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, Kramatorsk, Nikopol—every single city and village that is geographically close to the front lines but, in terms of values, very, very far from "russia." I thank you, our gatekeeper. Thank you for standing firm.
Dear people!
I am grateful to you for your confidence in Ukraine, in our military, and in our state. The strength of such faith is a significant achievement of our time. Do not doubt Ukraine not because it is easy or trendy, but because it cannot be any other way.
I truly want us to preserve this. To be confident in our state, our army, ourselves, and everyone around us—those you can count on and who count on you.
On this day, Independence Day, it’s worth reflecting on this. To realize four things: what we’ve already achieved, where we are now, what lies ahead, and what we must do.
Putin is stuck in the past. He still views Ukraine through the lens of the old model—the one that will remain silent, swallow its grievances, and endure. Such a Ukraine no longer exists anywhere, nowhere at all, except in his "files full of reports." Our country has long been different. Not an observer, but a player. Not a victim, but a fighter.
We won’t let them seize the initiative or deceive Europe and the whole world into thinking that we just need to hand over Donbas, and everything will end quickly. We have no illusions. We don’t trust them. We won’t spare the Kremlin half a million soldiers. Russia keeps postponing the dates when they’re "about to" and "definitely" take over the entire Donetsk region. It will keep postponing them. Ukraine is different—it won’t give up what’s ours.
Russia doesn’t want peace—it wants mobilization. Well, let’s take this in stride. Let’s act. We must strengthen our military and have everything we need to hold our ground. Our soldiers must be supplied and equipped with everything necessary to turn the enemy’s reinforcements into fertilizer for our land.
Putin hopes we’ve grown tired. We know he’s mortal. He never understood us. Now it’s too late for him to do so. You wanted to take all of Ukraine, all of our land, but instead you lost your oil refineries, your fleet, your profits, and an entire generation that you sent into the meat grinder. You wanted to wipe us off the map; now you’re off the international agenda of the future civilization. For twenty-seven years, Russia’s leader has been talking about greatness, while Russia stands in line for gasoline.
We must stand united and crush them. Ukraine, Europe, America, the world. I’m glad that the U.S. has shed all illusions about whether Russia truly wants to end this war. I believe that America will overcome all its contradictions and phobias regarding Russia. We need to bring the "Russians" to the negotiating table. We need sanctions that will finally make them howl. We need to give Ukraine everything that will force them to end the war. And it’s possible.
Everything that is defending Ukraine today—we were first told it was "impossible," then "very difficult," and then "not so fast." And then America made a decision. It worked. And America’s strength was unquestionable.
We’re not asking you to fight for us. Give Ukraine everything it needs to stop this war—to stop it before Putin has time to launch the next one. To prevent that from happening, we must act together. Europe must be Europe—united, ambitious, and bold. China can no longer remain silent. When someone dresses up in a sailor’s uniform and a cap and, mispronouncing certain words, talks about a nuclear strike, China must respond; it must calm the situation. China must prove its ambition to be one of the world’s leaders—not only economically and technologically, but also in terms of civilization—by making it clear that no dictators should threaten the planet with their outdated warheads.
Ukraine and the world together are capable of stopping this. This avenue of our gratitude proves it: the planet is full of brave people. And there is still plenty of room for new acts of courage and new expressions of gratitude from Ukraine.
We remember everyone who stood with us during the hardest times. We believe in everyone who continues to stand with us. This friendship today is also a manifestation of the finest human qualities found
in Ukraine and its partners. And that is why nothing will shake the coalition that Ukraine has gathered around itself. There are more people on Ukraine’s side. There are more countries on the side of truth. And Ukraine has countless such friends; there is not a single avenue in the world that could hold the names of everyone with a Ukrainian heart—all those who stand with Ukraine now, with our military, with our people. And all of this is not charity, not mercy, but the achievement of our state. A Ukraine that has long since stopped asking, but a Ukraine that offers, motivates, and unites. A Ukraine that wants peace. Very much. And that will achieve it.
Dear Ukrainians! Dear Ukrainian women!
Thirty-five years ago, Ukraine was reborn. It regained its independence. It was neither given nor lent—it was fought for. People took risks for it and gave their lives for it, so that all the deeds of previous generations would lead to this day—August 24, 1991. That was when Ukraine’s time had come. But no one promised that it would be easy or trouble-free.
On February 24, 2022, history put our independence to the test. It asked us: Who are we? A mob or a nation? Cowards or warriors? A buffer between civilization and orcs, or a sovereign state? I thank the millions of Ukrainians who have answered—and continue to answer—in favor of Ukraine, in favor of independence.
We’ve been fighting for it—yes—for 1,643 days now. Boldly, steadfastly, stubbornly. And we mark this day
with special emotions, a spectrum of completely different feelings accumulated over the course of the war. Ukrainians are proud of themselves, but without fanfare; they celebrate modestly, greeting one another, knowing the true value of Independence. Our eyes are filled with both tears and hope; we are in pain, but we are learning to be stronger than all their evil. We are all tired, but we don’t complain for long. Ukraine certainly longs for peace, but it is not ready to simply give up.
Over these 35 years, we’ve heard plenty of predictions about us, about ourselves. And almost none of them came true. They said the state wouldn’t last, that we wouldn’t withstand the upheavals, and on February 24—that we’d hold out for only a few days. Yet we’ve held on all this time—through this war for independence.
The struggle for it—the struggle for freedom waged by all past generations—was so desperate that some in the world called us "crazy." But Ukrainians have always done everything they could so that one day we could say, "My God! We are free!"
Thirty-five years ago, that day arrived. And the day when there will be peace in Ukraine will also come. We are all human beings; we all want to live not in "historic" times, but simply in quiet, peaceful, and safe times—in a peaceful Ukraine. A Ukraine that succeeded. A Ukraine that stood its ground. A Ukraine that preserved itself and its independence. That is what we are fighting for. That is what we stand for—with faith in one another, in our Armed Forces, and in our nation.
Take care of yourselves and those around you; cherish the memory of all the heroes who gave their lives so that our Ukraine might live on. Protect your country; protect your independent state!
Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!
