While Ukraine marked its fifth anniversary of the country’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, the nation was stuck in a long-standing war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message that Russia failed to wipe out Ukraine but brought its destruction to its own country.
Zelenskyy made the message in the Sumy region, a few kilometers from the border with Russia and from the Kurik/Kursk, which Ukrainian forces entered earlier this month. This cross-border strike in Russia has shaken Moscow; this attack is the most extensive since February this year when Russia invaded Ukraine.
‘Whoever wants to plant evil in our land will harvest it in their own,’ he said as he vowed that Russia will learn what retribution means. Zelensky described Putin as a ‘sick old man from Red Square, who scares everyone with a red button, a nuclear one’.
However, the Kursk intrusion has received much focus; it has not affected Moscow’s pace in the east of Ukraine. Due to various events’ cancellations out in the open due to concerns over Russian drone or missile attacks, indoor events were held in Kyiv.
But there was some ray of hope in diplomatic fields. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, noted Ukraine’s “incredible speed” towards EU membership, stating, “Your freedom is our freedom, your security is our security.
As Ukraine remains in this rather complicated and steep situation, Zelenskyy’s message of holding on and not giving up has found its place and shown that Ukraine will remain independent and will not give up its sovereignty easily.
