Ukrainian president says independence will be lost if true unity is not attained

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his country’s independence will be lost if it is not able to attain true unity.

“If the struggle is not stopped, sooner or later a unified and independent state will be restored. If true unity is not attained, independence will be lost. We have always known about the first piece of wisdom. And on February 24, we proved that we had mastered the second,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on the occasion of the Day of Unity.

He said that the start of Moscow’s war on Kyiv revived Ukrainian unity.

“Every region is protecting each other. All of us no longer have strange cities, villages, or streets. Every city is a native city. Every village is a native village. Every street is a native street. Even if we have never been there in our life,” Zelenskyy said.

He also said that the Ukrainian people are defending their lands together, adding that they will win and the “entire Ukraine will hear the sounds of victory.”

“We are united because we are strong. We are strong because we are united,” he added.

The Ukrainian Day of Unity is a state holiday celebrated annually on Jan. 22 since 1999, marking the day when the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic signed the Unification Act in 1919, effectively merging both republics into a single country.