Ukrainians will fight for their statehood to the last and will not stop until they liberate the last meter of Ukrainian land, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address for Ukrainian Statehood Day July 28.
The day marks the 988 baptism of “Kyivan Rus,” the origin of Christianity in the region, but this is the first year Ukrainians marked Statehood Day, reported Religious Information Service of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukrainians need neither fireworks nor pomp to show the importance of statehood for the Ukrainian people.
“Today we defend (Ukraine) with weapons in hands. For 155 days in a row,” he said, referring to the Feb. 24 Russian invasion. “We can say that for us, State-hood Day is every day. Every day we fight so that everyone on the planet finally understands: We are not a colony, not an enclave, not a protectorate …not a province, but a free, independent, sovereign, indivisible and independent state.”
Zelenskyy outlined the main historic events that laid the basis for Ukraine’s statehood and noted: “All stages of the history of Ukraine’s statehood, its defense and struggle for it can be described in one sentence: We existed, exist and will exist. We will exist, because our state has incredible sons and daughters who have stood up for its de-fence.”
The United Nations reported July 25 more than 5,200 civilians had been killed and more than 7,000 injured in Ukraine since the war began.