In Fiery Independence Day Speech, Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Will Fight Russia 'Until The End'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stands amid a display of damaged Russian armored vehicles in Kyiv on August 24, a date that marks 31 years since Ukraine's independence and six months since Russia began its invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed his country will fight Russian troops "until the end" as Ukraine marked its independence amid a war with its neighbor 31 years after leaving the Moscow-dominated Soviet Union.
"During these six months, we changed history, changed the world, and changed ourselves... We started to respect ourselves. We understood that despite any help and support, no one but us will fight for our independence. And we united," Zelenskiy said in an anniversary address on August 24, which coincides with the passing of six months since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"It doesn't matter to us what kind of army you have; what matters to us is our land. We will fight for it until the end," he added.
Ukrainians, and much of the world, are bracing for a prolonged war after Russian forces were pushed back at the start of what Moscow describes as a "special military operation" and the fall of Kyiv was prevented.
In Pictures: Ukraine’s Path To Independence In 1991
1/23Crowds wearing Ukraine's national colors demonstrate in front of the Communist Party headquarters in Kyiv in August 1991. During the Soviet era, expressions of Ukrainian linguistic, cultural, and religious identity were suppressed. Ukrainians were sometimes killed, imprisoned, or exiled for the simple reason that they were thought to be in favor of Ukraine's independence.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
2/23Dissidents paid an especially heavy price, such as Vasyl Stus, Yuriy Lytvyn, and Oleksa Tykhyi, who were reburied (pictured) in Kyiv on November 19, 1989, with the then-banned Ukrainian flag proudly displayed. The three died while serving time for various crimes including "anti-Soviet activity" and "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda."
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
3/23On January 21, 1990, 3 million Ukrainians joined hands to form a human chain, the "Ukrainian Wave," from Lviv to the capital, Kyiv (pictured), to commemorate the 71st anniversary of a short-lived Ukrainian republic established in 1919. It was the largest demonstration in late-Soviet Ukraine.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
4/23Elections in March 1990 fractured the Communist Party's monopoly on power in Ukraine. Months later, as Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sought to prevent the disintegration of the U.S.S.R., hundreds of thousands of people participated in protests and strikes across Ukraine calling for independence.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
5/23On August 1, 1991, U.S. President George Bush delivered his"Chicken Kiev"speech, in which he warned Ukrainians about the dangers of "suicidal nationalism," a phrase used by Gorbachev. He further exhorted them to remember that "freedom is not the same as independence." Four months later, Bush reversed course when he was forced to recognize an independent Ukraine.
Bush (left) and the chairman of Ukraine’s parliament, Leonid Kravchuk, during talks on August 5, 1991.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
6/23An attempted putsch was launched between August 19 and August 22 by hard-line communists seeking to overthrow Gorbachev and reverse his reforms. Their efforts faced popular resistance and quickly collapsed. In the chaotic days that followed, on August 24, the Ukrainian parliament declared the country's independence. The declaration was made subject to popular ratification by a referendum on December 1, 1991.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
7/23Ukrainians celebrated the August 24 proclamation by tossing former political prisoner Levko Lukyanenko into the air. Lukyanenko was one of the founders of theUkrainian Helsinki Group in 1976. He was also a co-author of the 1991 independence declaration.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
8/23The first direct presidential elections in Ukraine's history were to take place on December 1, 1991, the same day as its independence referendum.
A supporter of presidential candidate Kravchuk holds his campaign poster in Kyiv on November 30.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
9/23A campaign worker holds up a newspaper that says "For a Free Ukraine" in Kyiv.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
10/23A supporter carries a campaign poster for former dissident Lukyanenko, now a presidential candidate, in Kyiv.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
11/23Both Ukrainian and European flags are seen during a pro-independence rally in Kyiv.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
12/23The historic ballot contains the question: "Do you confirm the Act of Proclamation of the Independence of Ukraine?" with two possible answers: "Yes, confirm" or "No, do not confirm."
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
13/23Ukrainians cast their ballots in Kyiv on December 1, 1991.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
14/23Vyacheslav Chornovil was surrounded by members of the press in Lviv as the nation voted. Chornovil was a prominent Ukrainian politician and Soviet dissident who had founded the Popular Movement of Ukraine, which had pushed for reforms and more sovereignty. After years of political persecution and multiple arrests, he was able to run as a candidate for president.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
15/23Voters wait patiently to cast their ballots at the Kalinin mine in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
16/23Voters in Odesa sign in to receive their ballots.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
19/23Serhiy Hodorovskiy (right) watches as his grandmother, Rosa Hordorovskaiya, 80, casts her ballot in her Kyiv home. Rosa was too old to walk to the polling station, so the ballot box was brought to her.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
20/23Under the watchful gaze of Taras Shevchenko, voters cast their ballots. Shevchenko's literary legacy is widely regarded as the bedrock of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
21/23Kravchuk casts his vote in Kyiv. Kravchuk would receive 61.6 percent of the votes and become Ukraine's first president. He was followed by Chornovil with 23.3 percent.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
22/23The turnout in the election was 84 percent and the vote was overwhelmingly for independence. More than 90 percent voted in favor. In Crimea, the pro-independence vote was 55 percent.
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
23/23On December 8, 1991, Ukrainian President Kravchuk (second from left), Belarusian Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislav Shushkevich (third from left), and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (second from right) signed a declaration that "the Soviet Union as a geopolitical reality [and] a subject of international law has ceased to exist."
August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. As the country fights to preserve its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a look back at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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Western military sources now say Russian forces are making little headway in their offensive operation in Ukraine's eastern and southern territories, comparing the fighting to the slow, bloody, attritional fighting of World War I.
Since the fighting broke out, some 7 million people have fled Ukraine, while Western nations have imposed sweeping financial and technological sanctions on Russia over its aggression, battering a range of economic sectors from auto production and information technology to travel and pushing the nation into recession.
The 44-year-old Zelenskiy acknowledged the "difficult" impact on Ukraine, "but we clenched our fists fighting for our fate."
"Every new day is a new reason not to give up. Because, having gone through so much, we have no right not to reach the end. What is the end of the war for us? We used to say: peace. Now we say: victory," he said, adding that the war won't end until all of Ukraine, including Russia-backed separatist regions in the east and Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, is under Kyiv's control.
"We will put our hands up only once: when we will celebrate our victory. The whole of Ukraine. Because we do not trade our lands and our people," he said.
"For us, Ukraine is all of Ukraine. All 25 regions, without any concessions or compromises. We do not know these words; they were destroyed by missiles on February 24."
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has seen its audience grow significantly since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is among the most cited media outlets in the country. Its bold, in-depth reporting from the front lines has won many accolades and awards. Its comprehensive coverage also includes award-winning reporting by the Donbas.Realities and Crimea.Realities projects and the Schemes investigative unit.
![On December 8, 1991, Ukrainian President Kravchuk (second from left), Belarusian Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislav Shushkevich (third from left), and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (second from right) signed a declaration that "the Soviet Union as a geopolitical reality [and] a subject of international law has ceased to exist." ](https://gdb.rferl.org/24f06279-5066-42f7-965b-706810208903_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
