"Every Ukrainian is fighting for every Ukrainian": Zelenskyy congratulated Ukrainians on Sobornist Day

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has published an appeal to Ukrainians on Sobornist Day, the national day of unity and freedom of Ukraine, celebrated on 22 January.

Source: Zelenskyy on social media

Quote: "Exactly 105 years ago, right here on Sophia Square in Kyiv, the following lines were proclaimed: ‘The age-old dreams have come true, dreams that the best sons of Ukraine lived for and died for. From now on, the constituent parts of a single Ukraine, separated for centuries, are united as one.’

These are the words of the Unification Act, which brought together the Ukrainian lands on both banks of the Dnipro River into a single state. And on this occasion, today we celebrate the Day of the Unity of Ukraine.

Every year on 22 January, we have always recalled two key lessons of those times. Two guiding principles for all generations of the Ukrainian nation. To gain your own statehood, you have to fight. To preserve it, you have to unite.

And the day has come when it fell to all of us to prove that both of these lessons have been learned. Every Ukrainian knows this day. When recalling it, there’s no need to mention the year, just the date and month will suffice. It's the 24th of February.

When we showed that the unity and independence of Ukraine are real, and not just sayings for us. And we did not give up our state, but proved from the first day of the war that people’s full-scale unity repels full-scale enemy aggression. Not symbolically, not sporadically, not just in theory, but on the frontlines – on all fronts of the war against subjugation. In every form that the battle for the preservation of Ukraine may take. United, independent, strong."

Details: The President emphasised that Ukrainians have been living and upholding the ideals of Ukrainian unity from the far west to the far east of the country since 1990. And on 24 February, Ukrainians "joined hands again", rejecting the chains of slavery in favour of the chains of unity. Zelenskyy pointed out that this time around, the chains of unity took on a new form.

Quote: "The only difference is that it has taken on a new form, where every Ukrainian is no longer hung up on the distinction between "my region" and "elsewhere", but considers every corner of Ukraine - every city and village - to be their home.

Where we became dear to each other; where Ukrainians from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro fight for Ukrainians in Donbas and Crimea; in the south and the north.

Where Ukrainians from Zakarpattia, Bukovyna and Halychyna open the doors of their homes to provide shelter to Ukrainians from Mariupol, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainians who fight. Ukrainians who work.

Ukrainians who help. Ukrainian mothers and Ukrainian children who have lost their homes and are now abroad, contributing to the common resistance, collecting and delivering what is needed here. When Ukrainians from each region work to protect every other region.

And to liberate every corner that is temporarily occupied. Where the Ukrainians now living there await our return and listen to what we say. Continuing to be Ukrainians, continuing to resist. And together we will definitely force Russia to leave. And the words of the Unification Act about the unification of parts of Ukraine that were separated from each other will be heard again. They will become a reality.

Because today every Ukrainian is fighting for every Ukrainian. Proving that when all Ukrainians have joined hands, they can’t raise them to surrender."

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