Address of the President on the occasion of the Day of Defenders of Ukraine 1.10.2026

Dear Ukrainians, today is a special day, October 1st, Pokrova, the Day of the Defenders of Ukraine. Often, for such important state dates, I record addresses in iconic places. Maidan, Sofia, Lavra and others are indeed well-known, symbolic, strong, but there are points in Ukraine where there is no grand architecture.

Perhaps they are not as picturesque, but in reality, they are iconic and maximally important for us, for our state, for our independence. And it is in such a place that I am now, the front, where there are many such similar points, and it is in them, and in this way, that our history is being written today. Right here, on the floor, a raincoat among camouflage nets, among our patches and flags, it is in such places, without exaggeration, that the fate of Ukraine is decided. The fate of Europe, the wider world; independence is being won here.

And the path to peace lies through these labyrinths, these corridors. And when we say Ukraine is holding on, the beginning of this resilience starts precisely at the front, in such command posts, and at every one of our positions where Ukraine exists. Because Ukraine has defenders, it has female defenders, it has our warriors, people who for months create our actual strength, Ukrainian strength. In the army, the words of the soldier and poet Maksym Kryvtsov are well known: when I am asked what war is, I will answer without hesitation: names.

Vitaliy Skakun, Da Vinci, Nazariy Hertsevych, Horenka, Juice, Andriy Verkhovlyad, Iryna Tsybukh, Petryachenko, Oleksandr Matsiyevskyi, and many other names of this war. And in every Ukrainian family, each of us has such names, names that you truly want to remember and for whom you want to weep, whom to be proud of and to whom to be grateful. All this is about our heroes who gave their lives so that Ukraine could live. We remember every man and every woman and we will certainly not forget any of them, and we must certainly defeat Russia, achieve peace, and preserve our Ukraine, protect Ukraine.

1681 days of full-scale war, daily struggle, hard work despite attacks, strikes, shelling, Ukraine is holding on and destroying the occupier, achieving what Ukraine needs. All this is thanks to the fact that our defenders, our female defenders, are holding on. I thank you all who are defending our lives, defending our values, the Ukrainian right to exist, and our future, our entire beautiful state.

Thank you to everyone who wears a patch on their shoulder and holds independence on their shoulders. Soldiers and sergeants, first sergeants and sailors, our Ukrainian officers, everyone who is right now in positions, on missions, on combat duty, everyone who serves Ukraine and who gives all their strength so as not to give away their Ukraine. Our infantry, airborne, intelligence, command posts, combat aviation, naval forces, artillery, signalers, engineers, all SSO and SSO, National Guard, SBU, police who protect, border guards. Everyone who fights Russian evil in our sky, who controls FPVs, NRKs, who is behind the monitor during an important operation, who liberates our land and who returns our sea.

We are grateful to all of you. We are proud of everyone, we value all our security and defense forces. And our combat commanders, and now already combat commanders-in-chief, they are always with us, with Ukraine. Right here: Khmara, Trapatyi, Palissa, Redys, Biletskyi, Ishkulov, Apostol, Skret, Obelenskyi, all our commanders are here and other commanders. And hundreds, hundreds of thousands of our warriors who stand as a shield so that Ukraine remains our home and so that peace is achieved, that victory of life on this land prevails, and that there were always Ukrainians.

We congratulate you, each and every one who defends Ukraine, with gratitude, with respect to all our defenders, all our female defenders. We say today, all of us say the most important thing. Glory to you! Glory to Ukraine! Glory!