President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his New Year's video message, wished Ukrainians victory and a return to normal life in 2023.

The head of state noted that 2022 was the year of Ukraine and Ukrainians.

"This year began on February 24 ... 311 days have passed. It can still be dark, loud and difficult for us. But we will definitely never be scared and ashamed ... We saw who is who. What friends, enemies, and most importantly, are capable of what we ourselves are capable of... We were told: you have no other options than to surrender. We say: we have no other options how to win. On February 24, we began to create our victory," Zelensky said.

"We defeated panic. We did not run away, but gathered. We defeated doubts, despondency, fear. We believed in ourselves and our strengths. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, the National Guard, the SBU, the SSO, border guards, theterodefense, air defense, police, the State Emergency Service, our defense and security forces," he added.

According to the president, it would be wrong to call the outgoing year a year of losses, since Ukraine has not lost anything, it has been taken away from it.

"Ukraine did not lose its sons and daughters - they were taken by the killers. The Ukrainians did not lose their home - they were destroyed by terrorists. We did not lose our lands - invaders entered them. The world did not lose peace - Russia destroyed it," he said, adding that "this impossible to forget and forgive.

The Ukrainians survived because their spirit supported them, as well as such intermediate victories as the Russian warship, Serpent's Island, HIMARS, "Bavovna", Krymsky Bridge, Cruiser "Moskva", Kherson, etc.

"And we pray that there will be Kremennaya and Svatovo, Melitopol, the whole Donbass, Crimea," Zelensky said, "We will continue to fight. For the sake of the main word: victory. And it will definitely be."

“Remember what we have already gone through and how our soldiers have been destroying this “second army of the world” from the first days, how our people stopped columns of Russian equipment, how a woman shot down a drone with a can of tomatoes, drones, bayraktars, withstood all threats and shelling, cruise missiles, darkness and cold, and how they supported each other and the state," the president said.

He emphasized that everyone who holds a weapon, drives a combine or a train, stands at a checkpoint or works at a power plant, journalists, diplomats, doctors, public utilities, rescuers, and even those who are just learning to walk - children, is important in a war, because "on there are no small or useless deeds in war": "each of us is a fighter, a front and the basis of defense, and I admire you all!".

Zelensky thanked all the "indestructible" regions and cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Odessa, Kherson, Chernihiv, Zaporizhia, Kramatorsk, Bakhmut and those that have become a refuge for millions of Ukrainians - Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Vinnitsa, as well as those that receive and transfer millions of tons of aid from Europe and the world: Lviv, Uzhgorod, Chernivtsi, Lutsk.

He also thanked Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Kropyvnytsky, Poltava, Mariupol, hosting businesses, enterprises and universities, and those who are waiting for Ukraine - Donbass, Lugansk region, Crimea. "And they will definitely wait!", - said the President.

At the same time, he stressed, this year can be called the year when "Ukraine changed the world, and the world discovered Ukraine."

"They told us: surrender. We chose a counteroffensive! We were told to make concessions and compromises. We go to the European Union and NATO. The world heard Ukraine. The European Parliament, the Bundestag, the British Parliament, the Knesset, the US Congress. The world saw Ukraine. On the main squares in Toronto , New York, London, Warsaw, Florence, Sydney and other cities. Ukrainians surprise. Ukrainians are applauded. Ukrainians inspire," he said.

"We don't know what the new year 2023 will bring us. But we are ready for anything. I want to wish all of us now one thing - victory. And this is the main thing. One wish for all Ukrainians," Zelensky said.

He also wished the Ukrainians that 2023 would be the year of their return to normal life, without air raid alerts and curfews.

"Let this year be the year of the return of our people and lands. Warriors to their families. Captives to their homes. IDPs to their Ukraine. Return to normal life and what was stolen from us: the childhood of our children, the calm old age of our parents and the freedom of cities, and that our main figure and main success – 603,628 square kilometers – the area of independent Ukraine, as it has been since 1991. As it will always be, appear in the reports of about 100 thousand destroyed enemies and thousands of pieces of Russian equipment. We are all ready to fight for this. We are all Ukraine," the president said.