Zelensky on New Holiday: Ukraine Will Prevail
Volodymyr Zelensky assured parliament on State Day that Ukraine would remain an independent country despite Russia’s aggression.
“We will not become a legend of heroic resistance, but a victorious state,” the president said on a holiday created last year and now being celebrated for the first time.
State Day falls on the same date as the conversion in 988 of Vladimir of Kyiv, ruler of the then Kievan Rus. The holiday is also primarily a response to Russian claims that Ukraine is merely an artificial state. Russia has now conquered about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory.
On the 155th day of the war, Zelensky said in parliament that Ukrainians are citizens “of the strongest country in the world.” Earlier in the day, he had already congratulated residents on celebrating the new holiday, which coexists with Independence Day in August.
