Address by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ukrainians, March 7, 2022:
“Monday. Evening. You know, we used to say: Monday is a hard day …
There is a war in the country. So every day is Monday. And now we are used to being like that every day and every night.
Today is the 12th day. The 12th night of our struggle. Our protection.
We are all on the battlefield, we are all working.
Everyone is where they need to be. I’m in Kyiv. My team is with me. Territorial defense is on the ground. The servicemen are in positions. Our heroes! Doctors, rescuers, carriers, diplomats, journalists…
Everyone. We are all at war. We are all contributing to our victory, which will definitely be achieved. With the power of weapons and our army. With the power of words and our diplomacy. With the power of the spirit that the first, the second and each of us have.
Take a look at our country today. Chaplinka, Melitopol, Tokmak, Novotroitsko and Kherson. Starobilsk. Everywhere people defend themselves, even though they do not have weapons. But these are our people, and that’s why they have weapons. They have courage. Dignity. And hence the ability to go out and say: I am here, it is mine and I will not give it! My city! My community! My Ukraine!
Every Ukrainian man and woman who protested against the invaders yesterday, today and will protest tomorrow, are heroes.
Together with you we shout against the invaders. We stand in the squares and streets with you. We are not afraid of you when the invaders open fire and try to drive everyone away.
YOU do not give up!
WE do not give up!
And the one who repeated, “We are one people” (Putin) – certainly did not expect such a powerful reaction.
In the southern part of our country, such a national movement has unfolded, such a powerful manifestation of Ukrainianness as we have never seen in the streets and squares there. And for Russia it is a nightmare.
They forgot that we are not afraid of wagons and bats. We are not afraid of tanks and machine guns. Because the important thing is on our side – the truth!
Mariupol and Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Sumy. Odessa and Kyiv. Николаев. Zhytomyr and Korosten. Ovruch. And many other cities.
We know that the hatred that the enemy has brought to our cities with shelling and bombing will not remain there. There will be no trace of him. Hatred is not for us. Therefore, there will be no trace of the enemy. We will restore everything. We will make our cities destroyed by the invader better than any city in Russia.
Energodar. Chernobyl. And other places where the barbarians just don’t understand WHAT they want to take. WHAT they want to control. Your work, your hard work on critical objects is a real feat. And we see it. We are sincerely grateful for that.
The Ukrainian army holds positions. Very good! Inflicts extremely painful losses on the enemy. Protects. He counterattacks. If necessary – he can take revenge. Mandatory! For every evil! For every rocket and bomb! For each destroyed civilian site!
Today in Makariv, Kiev region, they shot at the bakery. For what? The old bread factory! Think about it – shoot at the bakery. What do you have to be to do this?
Or to destroy another church – in the Zhytomyr region. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1862.
These are NOT people.
There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors.
Did it work? Russian tanks worked instead. Russian “City” (artillery systems – ed. Note). Russian mines. They even mined the roadwhich agreed to transport food and medicine for people and children in Mariupol.
They are even destroying buses that have to transport people. But at the same time they open a small corridor to the occupied territory. For several dozen people. Not so much to Russia as to the propagandists. Directly to their TV cameras. It is as if they are the ones who save. Just cynicism. Just propaganda. Nothing more. It makes no humanitarian sense.
The third round of talks in Belarus took place today. I would like to say – the third and last. But we are realistic. So we’ll talk. We will insist on negotiations until we find a way to tell our people: this is how we will achieve peace.
Right for the world.
We need to realize that every day of struggle, every day of resistance creates better conditions for us. A strong position that guarantees our future. In the world. After this war.
In addition to the dead and the destroyed cities, the war destroyed the aspirations that once seemed very important, but now… You don’t even mention them.
Almost three years ago, as soon as the election took place, we entered this building, this office, and immediately began planning our relocation.
I dreamed of moving from Bankova. Together with the government and parliament. To unload the center of Kyiv and in general – to move to a modern, transparent office – as befits a progressive democratic European state.
Now I will say one thing: I stay here.
I’m staying in Kyiv.
On Bankova Street.
I am not hiding.
And I’m not afraid of anyone.
As long as it takes to win this Patriotic War of ours. ”
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