Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea’s return is “matter of time”, Zelenskyy says on Ukraine’s Independence Day

The corresponding passage is present in the official text of the president’s speech, published on his website.

The video version of the address was recorded at Kyiv’s Independence Square. It featured symbolic sculptures located in this part of the capital.

“These symbols are all around us, in this Monument of Independence. Inside, it has a reinforced concrete frame and can literally withstand a hurricane. Just like our Ukraine has withstood the great calamity that Russia brought to our land. Here, at the 'Zero Kilometer.' This is the starting point, where distances to Ukrainian cities are marked. To our Donetsk, our Luhansk, our Crimea. And today, these markers have an entirely different meaning. They are no longer just about kilometers. They remind us that all of this is Ukraine. And our people are there, and no distance between us can change that, and no temporary occupation can alter that. And one day, this distance between Ukrainians will disappear, and we will be together again as one family, as one country. It is only a matter of time. And Ukraine believes it can achieve this – secure peace, peace across its entire land. Ukraine is capable of it,” Zelenskyy stressed.

“Because Ukraine has character. Rock-solid endurance, a gaze we do not avert, and hands scorched by fire and time, yet strong. Hands that hold the shield and defend what is theirs” the president added.

On August 23, 2025, Independence Flag Day, Zelenskyy also assured: “We will not give our land to the occupier.”

During recent talks with Donald Trump in Washington, attended by European leaders, Zelenskyy refused to discuss the possibility of territorial concessions to Russia, saying it would be a matter for his personal meeting with Putin. The Kremlin, however, is currently refusing such a meeting.

• Western media circulated information that Vladimir Putin allegedly proposed during his meeting with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, to take all of Donbas in exchange for “freezing” hostilities. 
• The U.S. Republican-leaning channel Fox News even reported that the American president had preliminarily agreed to Russia gaining all of Donbas—both the occupied and unoccupied parts.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the eve of Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, also stated that “territories will have to be discussed.”