Zelenskyy addresses Ukrainians on Unity Day

nv.ua:  The holiday celebrates the union of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1919, which resulted in the formation of the first modern Ukrainian state.

Zelenskyy noted in his address that Russian full-scale war has led to renewed unity in Ukraine.

The President stated that the events of the past year events have passed two pieces of wisdom down to the next generations of Ukrainians. The first, he said, was that Ukraine’s full sovereignty can only be restored if Ukrainians keep fighting. The second is that Ukrainian independence can only be lost if real unity inside the country is first lost.

"We have always known about the first piece of wisdom,” he said.

“And on February 24, we proved that we had mastered the second. This became a new revival of our Ukrainian unity.”

He emphasized that Ukrainians no longer have "strange" settlements or streets, they all have become "local". Soldiers from across Ukraine defend Mariupol, Kupyansk, Izyum, while soldiers from these cities defend Avsiivka, Bakhmut and Soledar and "they all together fight for Kyiv", Zelenskyy said.

"(Unity has spread) across Ukraine,” Zelenskyy declared.

“In the summer. In the autumn. In the winter. In the spring. We are defending all this. Together. And we will win. Together. And the entire Ukraine will hear the sounds of victory. My beloved Zakarpattya, Volyn, Podillia, Tavria, Sivershchyna, Polissia, Naddniprianshchyna, Halychyna, Prydniprovia, Slobozhanshchyna, Pryazovia, Bukovyna, Donbas, and, of course, Crimea... My Ukraine. Our Ukraine.”

“We are united because we are strong. We are strong because we are united," Zelenskyy noted.