Today, August 29, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a statement on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of Ukraine’s Defenders. He reminded that the country has been fighting since 2014 and is now defending itself in a full-scale war.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote about this in Telegram.
“This battle for Ukraine’s right to live has been going on since 2014. Since 2022, Ukrainians have been defending themselves in a full-scale war. This is an extremely long and difficult path of courage. And we do not forget, thanks to whom Ukraine is preserved,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Day of Remembrance of Ukraine’s Defenders
The Day of Remembrance of Defenders of Ukraine was established in 2019. August 29 is associated with one of the most tragic moments of the Russian-Ukrainian war before the full-scale invasion — the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from encirclement near Ilovaisk in 2014.
At that time, Russian troops violated agreements and shot columns of Ukrainian soldiers as they were leaving through the so-called “green corridor” across a sunflower field. The traditional symbol of the Day of Remembrance of Defenders became the sunflower.
