Happy to see the first star in the sky and not missiles or drones – Zelenskyy on Christmas

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his Christmas greetings emphasised that this year Ukrainians celebrate this holiday on the same date and together with Europe and the world.

Source: President's Christmas greetings

Quote: "Today, all Ukrainians are together. We all celebrate Christmas together. On the same date, as one big family, as one nation, as one united country. And today our common prayer will be stronger than ever. The people's prayer. Today, it will unite millions of voices – more than ever before. And it will resonate today without a time difference of two weeks. Resonate together with Europe and the world."

Details: Zelenskyy noted that for the second year in a row, Ukrainians had learnt another dimension of this holiday – Christmas in times of full-scale war.

"Christmas with a different mood, context, and flavour. And a family dinner at home is not the same as usual. Because not all of us are at home. And not everyone has a home. And it has become much more important not what dishes are on the table, but what people are at the table. And how precious it is to have them around," he said.

Zelenskyy stressed that our gifts, values and traditions have changed nowadays.

"How today it's not so much about how we decorate our homes, but rather how we protect them and clean up the mess, sweeping the enemy out of our home. How we rejoice at seeing the first star in the evening sky and not seeing enemy missiles and Shaheds in it.

How joyously and brightly sound the hundreds of our carols, and just three words: ‘air raid over’," Zelenskyy added.

He recorded his address in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which he called a millennial symbol of Ukrainian history, culture, religion, Orthodoxy, and all of Eastern Christianity, as well as proof of "our unyielding fortitude, resilience, tough challenges and ability to overcome them."

Quote: "Christmas Eve is the time of the longest nights of the year. But tomorrow the day starts getting longer, the light starts prevailing. The light is getting stronger. And step by step, day by day, the darkness retreats.

And in the end, darkness will lose. Evil will be defeated. Today, this is our common goal, our common dream, and this is what our common prayer is for today. For our freedom. For our victory. For our Ukraine. For the day when we can all come together at home in a peaceful year of peaceful Christmas. And say to each other: ‘Christ is born!’"

Support UP or become our patron!