Zelenskyy: Liberation of Zmiinyi Island is one of our significant victories

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the release of Zmiinyi Island exactly a year ago "one of our most significant victories."

"Remember, last year, in the spring, no one expected from Ukraine that we would be able to implement, in particular, this fundamental defense task – to ensure the security of the Zmiinyi Island, and therefore, a significant part of the Black Sea area," he said in a video address on Friday.

"But our warriors did it. Russian terrorists needed the Zmiinyi Island to destroy the entire south of our country, our beautiful Odssa and other cities. Our soldiers stopped them, expelled them from Zmiinyi," he said.

Ukrainians, the president said, "are much stronger than anyone thinks of us. Sometimes stronger than we used to think about ourselves."