Address by the President of Ukraine on the Fourth Anniversary of the Beginning of Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Dear Ukrainians!

Today marks exactly four years since Putin started his three-day push to take Kyiv. And that, in fact, says a great deal about our resistance, about how Ukraine has fought all this time. Behind those words stand millions of our people. Behind those words stand immense courage, incredibly hard work, endurance, and the long path Ukraine has been pursuing since February 24.

This office – this small room in the bunker on Bankova Street – this is where I held my first conversations with world leaders at the start of the war. Here I spoke with President Biden, and it was right here that I heard: Volodymyr, there is a threat. You need to leave Ukraine urgently. We are ready to help with that. And here I replied that I need ammunition, not a ride.

And not because we are all fearless or made of steel – we are all human beings, and on that day, every one of us, all Ukrainians, felt fear and pain; many were in shock, and many did not know what to say. But on some invisible level, all of us knew that we have no other Ukraine, that this is our home, and all of us understood what had to be done.

Such was the choice. The choice that millions of Ukrainians made back then. Our people did not raise a white flag – they defended the blue and yellow one. And the occupiers, who thought they would be met here with crowds waving flowers, saw lines at the recruitment centers instead. Our people chose resistance. And our warriors stood firm, and civilians defended cities and villages, streets and yards. Ordinary people, absolutely, forming living walls, stopped columns of military vehicles, and all together showed lost Russia the only right road.

Everyone understood: every tomorrow had to be won. Ukraine had to stand – the state had to stand no matter what. And despite everything, our Ukraine had to keep functioning. Much was done here; we had never shown this facility before – it’s empty now, of course, but at the beginning of the war, there were hundreds of people here. 

I worked here, then went upstairs to address you, the people. Here was our team, the government, daily coordination with the military, phone calls, the search for solutions – everything necessary for Ukraine to endure. Weapons had to be delivered. Medicine and food were delivered to cities blockaded by the enemy. To preserve the life Ukraine fights for so desperately.

And to be honest, things were different at times – here, both formal and blunt language was used, because every aid package, every sanction against Russia, every shipment of weapons – all of these had to be truly fought for. We had to fight tooth and nail for the faith in Ukraine. We had to make sure the world got involved.

And this was the key message of our appeals to European countries, to the U.S. Congress, to most parliaments around the world – and to the people, of course. To ordinary people – to millions across the globe – be with us, be with Ukraine, believe in us, stand with Ukraine, be brave like Ukraine!

These calls worked, because Ukrainians fought in a way that took your breath away, and this resistance was visible even from space, and that was absolutely inspiring, so very soon everyone saw it – this blue-and-yellow sea: thousands of people with our flags in squares across Europe and the world.

And so – gradually, with difficulty, step by step, brick by brick – Ukraine built the support that allowed us to hold out: when we made it through the first day of the war. The longest day of our lives. Then another. And another. Then a week. Two weeks. And then – a month. And we saw spring.

We won it back then – when it seemed that this February would never end, we gained our first spring amid a great war. It was a turning point, and for the first time, a thought flashed through everyone’s mind: we can do this. Ukraine can do this.

I really like the phrase that everyone was reposting at the time – a kind of summary of the first stage of the full-scale war, when Ukraine said: “You think I’ve fallen to my knees? I’ve just tied my tactical boots.”

And ahead of us was a road. And even in this long tunnel, you couldn’t fit a millionth of the pain Ukraine has endured during this time. The pain Russia brought to each of our families, to every Ukrainian heart.

Bucha. Irpin. Borodyanka. Mass graves. Hostomel. Mriya. Kharkiv. Mykolaiv. Regional state administration. Kakhovka Dam. Zaporizhzhia NPP. Kremenchuk and Kryvyi Rih. Ternopil and Lviv. Olenivka. Chasiv Yar. Kyiv. Okhmatdyt. Kramatorsk. Train station. A toy. Mariupol. Drama theater. The inscription: Children. Odesa. Apartment building. A little girl. Three months. Vilnyansk. Maternity ward. An infant. Two days…

Men do not fight like this. People do not act like this. Ukrainians will not forget it. Let this footage be seen by everyone who has no pangs of conscience, by all who still extend a hand to Russian evil and still buy Putin’s oil.

But all this time, we have not let our anger eat us from within. Ukrainians have turned their own rage into energy for the fight and have proven: we can be forced into shelters, but it is impossible to drive Ukraine underground forever. We inevitably rise, we return, we continue to fight – because we fight for life. For the right to stand on our land – and to breathe our own air. And Ukraine knows these feelings well – when, despite everything, after the all-clear, we come up from the bomb shelter, and with us, hope emerges, soaring into the sky; whenever the Ukrainian flag is raised – whenever it returned and returns to where it rightfully belongs.

And this was the next important stage of our struggle – when Ukraine not only endured, not only holds the defense, but strikes back. When entire cities made history. Hero Cities. Cities of Heroes. They moved forward. There were the first offensives, the first successes, and what can never be forgotten – the first eyes, the eyes of Ukrainians who had waited for their own. Balakliya, Izyum, Kupyansk, Kherson. Everyone saw how the occupiers were driven out of the Kyiv region, out of the Sumy region, the Chernihiv region. And everyone learned about the Ukrainian teleport to the other world for the enemy – Chornobaivka. Saw how Russian ultimatums turned into goodwill gestures. How Zmiinyi Island became ours again.

How the word “bavovna” gained a new meaning, and how we rejoiced when the first “bavovna” was heard in Russia. It is not malice – this is simply what justice sounds like in Ukrainian. It sounds like Stuhna, Vilkha, Neptune, and the roar with which the cruiser Moskva sank. Back then – it was a big moment. Later – it became a tradition. 

And little else lifts Ukrainian spirits like the footage of the enemy’s military facilities and oil refineries burning. When it happened for the first time – it was major news. Now – it is almost daily.

And what once seemed unthinkable has now become the norm. Patriots, IRIS-Ts, NASAMS, F-16s – and something greater: our own weapons, our long-range capability.

Just realize this. Ukraine has come a long way – from the point when we were being given body armor to the point when we ourselves produce more than three million FPV drones a year. From the days when we admired Javelins and Bayraktars to the day when we have our own Sichen, Hor, Vampire, Palianytsia, Peklo, Ruta, Flamingo. From asking to close the sky to the ability to shoot down hundreds of “shaheds” in a single night. From hedgehogs and fortifications on the streets of Kyiv to the Kursk operation and the Spiderweb.

But that is still not enough – we will do more, because Russia does not stop, unfortunately, and wages war by every method – against peace, against us, against people.

Putin understands he is not capable of defeating Ukraine on the battlefield, and the “second army in the world” is fighting against apartment buildings and power plants. And now Ukrainians are enduring the hardest winter in history. And terror almost every night. I do not know who else could withstand this without collapsing or wavering. Ukrainians are doing it. And this is great exhaustion. For sure. What other people could do this? Despite the war, all these attacks, all these trials – to overcome evil – to overcome despair and hopelessness. And to hold on. And to hold on in unity.

And amid all this – to achieve results – everywhere. To recover after every attack. Each time, to replenish our air defense with missiles. To go to work every morning. To hold the line constantly. To speak with the world as equals. To gain EU candidate status, to bring thousands of our prisoners home. To make every international platform – from Davos to the UN – pro-Ukrainian. To make Ukraine’s voice in the world loud, to win Eurovision, to take the Oscar and the BAFTA, to be absolute world boxing champions, and to prove that Ukrainians have honor of the highest grade – far more valuable than any gold of this spineless IOC.

From each such act, from all such steps, achievements, and small victories, the great Ukraine is formed. Great – because it has you. People who inspire the planet.

And we remember how the first foreign leaders arrived in Ukraine at the beginning of this war. And the term “official visit” cannot in the slightest convey what these meetings were for us. We understood who was truly our brother and friend, who did not fear, did not hesitate, did not stain their name and did not worry about how not to anger Putin. I thank every leader who chose the side of light in history – chose Ukraine. In Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia. Everyone who stands with us.

And I really want to come here with the President of the United States one day. I know for certain: only by coming to Ukraine, and seeing with one’s own eyes our life and our struggle, feeling our people and the enormity of this pain – only then can one understand what this war is really about. And because of whom. Who the aggressor is here and who must be pressured. That Ukraine defends life, fights precisely for this, and that this is not a street fight – it is an attack by a sick state on a sovereign one, and that Putin is this war. He is the cause of its beginning and the obstacle to its end. And it is Russia that must be put in its place. So that there can be real peace.

They say time heals. I am not sure. At least I do not know how much time it will take to heal all our wounds – all these painful questions of “How many?” that burn inside. How many tears have been cried? How many attacks and vile strikes? How many scars in our hearts – how many flags in our cemeteries? How many names?

Da Vinci, Grenka, Juice. Zheka, Tykhyi, Nord. Petrychenko, Matsievskyi, sailor Vitalii Skakun, pilot Oleksandr Oksanchenko. Daria “Delta” Lopatina. Lana “Sati” Chornohorska. Yulia Bereziuk, Marharyta Polovinko. Thousands, thousands of heroes who gave their lives so that Ukraine may live. Our warrior-defenders. Our guardian angels.

I am certain they have told God the whole truth about this war. About how we defend ourselves. We defend our land, life, independence, our culture, history, our St. Sophia, our people. 1,462 days of the full-scale war. 12 years since the beginning of Russia’s aggression. For some – an entire lifetime. Of course, we all want the war to end. But no one will allow Ukraine to end. We want peace. Strong, dignified, lasting. And before each round of negotiations, I give our team very clear directives. They always come in classified decrees, but I will certainly not reveal a state secret if I share my main message: not to nullify all these years, not to devalue – the entire struggle, the courage, the dignity, everything Ukraine has gone through. This cannot be surrendered, forgotten, betrayed. That is why there are so many rounds of negotiations, and a battle for every word, for every point, for real security guarantees, so that the agreement is strong. History is watching us closely. The agreement must not simply be signed – it must be accepted, accepted by Ukrainians.

Dear people,

The strength that has sustained us all these years is you. Our people. Our resistance is you. Ukrainian men. Ukrainian women. Everyone who does not give up. Our eyes may be tired, but our backs are unbroken. And I want to thank each and every one who carries independence on their shoulders. Every warrior – for your strength. Your parents, your children, your wives and husbands – for their endurance. I thank all those whose work makes Ukraine stronger. Those who bring light and warmth back to our homes. Those who heal. Those who volunteer. Those who teach. Those who study – in universities or in schools – and who learn the most important thing: to be human, to be Ukrainian. I am proud of you. I believe in each and every one of you. In all of you to whom, without any exaggeration, I have the honor to say: Great people of a great Ukraine.

Looking back at the beginning of the invasion and reflecting on today, we have every right to say: we have defended our independence, we have not lost our statehood. Ukraine exists not just on the map. Ukraine is an actor in international relations. Our capital stands, and so do Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kramatorsk, Odesa, Lviv. Other cities. Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken Ukrainians. He has not won this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to secure peace and justice. 

Less than a week until spring. We are getting through the hardest winter in history. This is a fact. And it is very difficult. Difficult for all of us. But just as on the first day of the war – we continue to build our tomorrow – step by step, task by task, achievement by achievement, and every result, every success, every one of our “Ukraine did it” is the merit of all of you. The Ukrainian people.

Glory to Ukraine!