Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the anniversary of the war in his homeland with a message of defiance to his people, saying: “We will defeat everyone,” Reuters reported. He posted a video titled “The Year of Invincibility”.
“One year ago on this day, from this same place, around 7:00 a.m., I addressed you with a brief statement that lasted just 67 seconds,” he said in his 15-minute speech to solemn music.
“We are strong. We are ready for anything. We will defeat everyone. This is how it all began on February 24, 2022. The longest day of our lives. The hardest day in our recent history. We woke up early and since then we have not sleep,” said Zelensky.
On February 24, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but the blue and yellow one. Not fleeing, but facing. Resisting & fighting.
It was a year of pain, sorrow, faith, and unity. And this year, we remained invincible. We know that 2023 will be the year of our victory! pic.twitter.com/oInWvssjOI— Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2023
Western military officials put the death toll and wounded on both sides of Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II at more than 100,000. Tens of thousands of civilians have died and millions more have fled the threat of hostilities.
“Almost everyone has at least one contact in their phone that they will never pick up again. The one that won’t answer the SMS with the text ‘How are you?’. These two words took on a new meaning during the year of the war,” he added the Ukrainian president. And he praised his people with the words: “We have become one big army. We have become a team in which someone finds, someone packs, someone carries, but everyone contributes.”
He described 2022 as a year of “resilience, courage, pain and unity”.
“The main conclusion from it is that we survived. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to win this year!” concluded Zelensky.
READ ALL ABOUT THE WAR IN UKRAINE HERE
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