Independence is possible only when there are people ready to fight for it, said Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny.

"How can one feel independence? Those who fight for it know its taste. This is the taste of the earth eating into the skin. The taste of blood and death that permeates the air. The salty taste of tears. Independence is a responsibility that lies on your shoulders. You are leading into battle and you know that not everyone will return from it. Both the living and the fallen remain with you forever. On your conscience. And in memory," Zaluzhny wrote on his Facebook page on the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine.

"Independence has a voice. This is the voice of the ancestors. They died in battles, in gulags, swelled from hunger and laid out the roads of empires with bones. This is the cry of mothers burying their children. The voice of those who are in peaceful towns and villages asking for help under the rubble of their destroyed homes. The voice of our children, who did not choose the time and place of birth, but who had to live during the Great War. Independence is possible only when there are people ready to fight for it," the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted.

He thanked all defenders of Ukraine for their service and protection of Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.