Ukraine marks 10th anniversary of Maidan Revolution under shadow of 20-month war

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine on Tuesday commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Maidan Revolution, as the country marks its Dignity and Freedom Day under the shadow of Russia’s war on its neighbor for 20 months.

“10 years ago, we started a new page in the struggle. 10 years ago, Ukrainians launched their first counteroffensive. Against lawlessness, against the attempt to deprive us of our European future. Against our subjugation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address from the European Square in the capital Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said that during the protests, Ukrainians united not only against something, but also for themselves, and the first victory in their ongoing war against Russia took place then.

On Ukraine’s EU accession process, he said that the presence of EU flags alongside Ukrainian flags in the European Square are a “real symbol of Ukraine’s inseparability from Europe, the right to which the Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian state have been proving all this time.”

“Year after year, step by step, we do everything to ensure that our star shines in the circle of stars on the EU flag, which symbolizes the unity of the peoples of Europe. The star of Ukraine. 20 years ago it was a romantic dream, 10 years ago it was an ambitious goal, and today it is a reality in which it is no longer possible to stop our progress and completion of all mandatory stages,” Zelenskyy added.

He also said that these processes should result in Kyiv’s full membership in the EU.

“And every time they try to take something away from us, more and more people stand up to resist it … Having survived multiple ‘winters on fire.’ Both 10 years ago and last year. Yesterday and today. We fought and we are still fighting,” he added.

Zelenskyy reiterated that any compromises or concessions in the war with Russia are “impossible.”

“Years and centuries from now. When listening about Ukraine as an integral part of Europe, all future generations will ask in schools: how could it have been otherwise? When in our calendar alongside the Days of Independence, Statehood, Unity, Dignity and Freedom, the Day of Victory appears. Victory of Ukraine. Of decent and free people. With a capital letter,” he said.

Ukraine’s Dignity and Freedom Day commemorates the Orange Revolution, a series of nationwide protests against allegations of electoral fraud during the 2004 presidential elections, and the Maidan Revolution, mass protests which led to the ouster of then President Viktor Yanukovych, who was widely perceived as a pro-Russian ruler.