Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has congratulated Ukrainians on Unity Day, highlighting that in 2022, they selected not the trail of division and discord however the path of unity and wrestle to defend their nation.
Supply: Zelenskyy, addressing the nation from Sophia Sq. in Kyiv, the place the Unification Act was proclaimed
Quote: "Our nation is powerful and unbiased as a result of it stands united and indivisible. We maintain this fact shut day-after-day, however particularly on 22 January, Ukraine’s Unity Day. I’m recording this deal with from Sophia Sq. – a historic and highly effective place. It carries the knowledge of occasions that unfolded right here greater than a century in the past and the teachings of our historical past that adopted. These moments remind us: after we stand collectively and battle, we obtain what’s rightfully ours, however after we are divided, we danger dropping it."
Particulars: Zelenskyy recalled that it was on this very sq. that the Unification Act was proclaimed, bringing collectively Proper-bank and Left-bank Ukraine right into a single state.
Quote: "However ambition, division, and enemies – each exterior and inside – who exploited them prevented unbiased Ukraine from enduring. For generations, our folks lived below international flags and traditions, informed learn how to reside, converse, assume, whom to like, and whom to hate. That is what it means to lose statehood, to lose independence."
The president added that on 24 February 2022, Ukrainians had been tasked with proving simply how very important it’s to protect unity and stand collectively shoulder to shoulder.
Quote: "24 February turned a problem, a check of our unity, maturity, and religion in Ukraine. And we united… pushed by an interior calling. Collectively, we stood robust. Within the phrase 'collectively' lies the energy of Ukrainians. It displays what we’re able to after we select not our personal ambitions, however Ukraine. After we select not discord, however the sword – to defend what’s ours, shield our folks, and battle with all our would possibly."
He recalled the start of Russia's full-scale invasion when "there weren't sufficient weapons for all of the volunteers, however there was greater than sufficient braveness, dedication, and religion in ourselves and in Ukraine".
Quote: "That is what unity means. That is the togetherness we’d like as a way to take what’s ours – the proper to reside in peace," the president mentioned.
Zelenskyy expressed confidence that future generations of Ukrainians would proceed to assemble at Sophia Sq. for each celebration, "below the blue and yellow flag, in our free nation".
"And we’ll do every thing to make sure this. In order that we’re by no means ashamed earlier than them, so that they know we didn’t repeat the errors of the previous. Ukraine exists. Ukraine is united. Peaceable. Indivisible," the president mentioned.
For reference: Unity Day is a state vacation celebrated on 22 January to mark the 1919 Unification Act between the Ukrainian Individuals's Republic and the West Ukrainian Individuals's Republic.
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