Defense not of Donbas, but of Ukraine upon your shoulders – Zelensky to military in Bakhmut

15:34, 20.12.2022 1 min read

 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky told the Ukrainian military in Bakhmut that upon their shoulders is "not the defense of Donbas, but of Ukraine."

"We see what remains after they pass – nothing alive. The question is not in Donbas. You protect entire Ukraine. After Donbas, they will do the same in other cities. They don't want anything Ukrainian," he said, speaking on Tuesday before the award ceremony, the press service of the President's Office reported.

"The defense not of Donbas, but of entire Ukraine rests upon your shoulders. I wish you the steadfastness with which you live and win. History remembers only the winners, the strong and the brave," he said.

Zelensky noted that "we drove through Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka; on this path, there are Ukrainian people, the same houses and the same grief that the insatiable neighborhood brought."