Ukrainians have proven, through their resilience in the full-scale war against the Russian Federation, that they will never be "a bargaining chip in disputes between capitals," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"It’s a fact, proven by the strength and resilience of our people in the full-scale war. Ukrainians will not be paving stones under the feet of tsars and leaders. Ukrainians will not be a bargaining chip in disputes between capitals. Ukrainians will not submit to what they don’t believe in, and they will certainly not abandon their dream - the dream of living independently," Zelenskyy said at ceremonies marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence on Monday.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine’s confidence comes from people across all regions of the country.
"We’re confident in Ukraine because we’re confident in our people, who won’t betray it, in millions of such people who may come from Vinnytsia or Kramatorsk, from Dnipro or Zaporizhia, from Odesa or Kharkiv, from Lviv or Kyiv, from Sevastopol or our Uzhhorod. But they’re all equally Ukrainian, equally brave, and equally dreamers in the truest sense of the word - people who don’t give up when a dream, and Ukraine, need defending," the president said.
According to Zelenskyy, the future not only of Ukraine but of Europe is being decided in Russia’s war against Ukraine. He also said that in the course of this fight there is a risk "that this war will be quieted down at the expense of our Ukrainian independence and the lives of our people."
"We’re not facing this risk alone, we’re not building up our people’s strength alone, and we believe we will definitely achieve a dignified peace for our state together with our friends, our partners. No nation would have enough weapons of its own alone in such a war. No nation would have withstood such powerful strikes without the world’s help ... A people must not be left without support when such brutality, such a war, is being waged against it," Zelenskyy said.
