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Kiev, Aug 24 (EFE) .- Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky hailed his country’s “restoration of independence” from the Soviet Union during a military parade on Tuesday.
“Today is the day of the restoration of independence”, a term widely used in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to refer to their separation from the Soviet Union. This is the first time that the term has been used in public by a Ukrainian president.
You can “occupy territories, but not the hearts of Ukrainians,” said Zelensky, referring to the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of part of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine by Russia , as he inaugurated the great military parade in Kiev.
“We are a young country with 1000 years of history. We are a young family that has its roots in the glorious Kievan Rus dynasty, Ukraine. We are not orphans, we are the descendants of a powerful state in the center of Europe â€, declared Zelensky from the platform set up on Independence Square (Maidan).
The Head of State announced a new national holiday, the Ukrainian State Day, which will be celebrated on July 28, the day of the baptism of Kievan Rus.
Zelensky underlined the multinational character of Ukraine and stressed that the country would not allow anyone to “own its history†and “annex its heroesâ€.
Ukraine, he added, enjoys broad international support, as evidenced by the Crimean Platform summit held in Kiev on Monday, where representatives of 46 countries and international institutions met. adopted a declaration condemning the Russian occupation of the peninsula. EFE
ot-bsi / ks
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