KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy marked Ukraine's Defenders Day holiday on Friday by promising victory over Russia and freedom for Ukraine.
In a video address delivered on hills outside the capital Kyiv, Zelenskiy thanked Ukraine's armed forces for defending their country. He said everything that had been taken away from Ukraine would be returned, and no soldier left in captivity.
"It seems that the current enemy in its evil unites all the enemies of our statehood that we faced before," Zelenskiy said on the wooded hills outside the village of Vitachyv, site of an historic military outpost overlooking the Dnipro River.
"By defeating this enemy, we will respond to all enemies who encroached on Ukraine - on those who lived, who live and who will live on our land. This will be a victory for all our people. This will be a victory for the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb 24, has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverised cities and damaged the global economy.
Ukrainian forces have made advances in recent weeks, but Russia has carried out heavy air strikes that hit energy facilities as well as apartment blocks this week.
"The world sees that Ukrainians do not lose their humanity under any circumstances. The enemy can strike at our cities, but never at our dignity," Zelenskiy, who was dressed in khaki, said in his video address marking the Oct 14 public holiday.
- SpaceX cannot fund Ukraine's Starlink internet indefinitely -
Elon Musk said on Friday SpaceX cannot "indefinitely" fund the Starlink internet service in Ukraine and send it several thousands more terminals after a report suggested that his rocket company had asked the Pentagon to pay for the donations.
Musk's comment on the question of support for the internet service in Ukraine comes after he angered many Ukrainians with a proposal to end Russia's war in their country that included ceding some territory.
"SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable," Musk said on Twitter.
This photograph taken on September 25, 2022, shows an antenna of the Starlink satellite-based broadband system donated by the US tech billionaire Elon Musk in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo: AFP)
The billionaire boss of Tesla said Starlink was spending nearly $20 million a month, he called it a "burn", for maintaining satellite services in Ukraine. He recently said that SpaceX had spent about $80 million to enable and support Starlink in Ukraine.
CNN reported on Thursday that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon last month saying it could not continue to fund the Starlink service in Ukraine and it may have to stop funding it unless the United States military helped with tens of millions of dollars a month.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk activated Starlink in Ukraine in late February after internet services were disrupted because of Russia's invasion. SpaceX has since given it thousands of terminals.
Ukraine's vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said this week Starlink services helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in critical areas after more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks.
Russia calls its intervention in Ukraine a "special military operation" and says it does not target civilians.
A protestor holds an anti-Russia poster during a demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Rome, Italy, on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)
