Twelve years ago, in February 2014, the Russian Federation unleashed a war against Ukraine. Thus began Ukraine's war for independence against its eternal enemy, Muscovy.
On February 19-20, 2014, the first acts of armed aggression against peaceful citizens took place in the center of the Ukrainian capital, and the first recorded crossings of the Ukrainian state border by Russian armed forces through the Kerch Strait occurred.
Russia had been preparing for the attack in advance. For many years, it carried out informational and economic aggression against Ukraine, recruited traitors, and created and financed a powerful network of agents in Ukraine.
Crimea was the first target of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. In March 2014, the enemy occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, and in April 2014, it began its invasion of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In 2014, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reinforced by volunteers, stopped the advance of the occupation and liberated part of the captured territories from the invaders.
The aggressor's true intentions became apparent on February 24, 2022, when the world witnessed the Russian Federation launching an open full-scale war against Ukraine, which in the long run threatened the peace and security not only of the European continent but also led to a disruption of stability and balance on a global scale.
The full-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine finally tore off the mask of Putin's aggressive regime. Arbitrariness, impunity, and the triumph of totalitarian regimes are what the Kremlin and its satellites are actually trying to demonstrate to the world.
The Russian Federation's unprovoked act of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, should have been a trigger for the civilized world, a signal to give an adequate and consolidated response to the aggressor, protecting its present and future. Despite all the powerful assistance that we gratefully accept from our partners, unfortunately, even after four years of war, the invader still continues to dictate its terms to the world, and Russian weapons continue to destroy our state and kill Ukrainians.
The full-scale war of 2022-2026 is comparable to the great conflicts of the past; in particular, it has already lasted longer than the German-Soviet war of 1941-1945. This underscores the collapse of Russian myths about "three days" and confirms the superiority of Ukraine's strategy of endurance. Ukrainians' resistance to Moscow's aggression has grown into a civilizational confrontation. This war has radically transformed the global system of international relations, leading to the strengthening of NATO, Europe's energy independence from Russia, the reformatting of supply chains, and the beginning of the formation of a new multipolar world. It has demonstrated the weakening of international law, the specter of nuclear threat, and has deepened the divide between democracies and autocratic regimes.
Thanks to the joint efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, all other military formations, the mass volunteer movement, and all Ukrainians who stood up to fight the enemy, as well as international support, we managed to thwart the enemy's plans. In many respects, our army has become a benchmark for conducting military operations in conditions of confrontation with a numerically and resource-superior enemy, building up the army under severe restrictions, in the extreme conditions of a real combat environment, and in an unprecedentedly short time. The heroic resistance of Ukrainians has already become legendary around the world, not only as an inspiring struggle for the freedom of their country, but as a real defense of Europe and the entire democratic world.
Stability on the planet, or the lack thereof, now depends on the outcome of this war—the War for Ukraine's Independence.