Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife, Olena Zelenska, in front of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery on November 22, 2023. HANDOUT / AFP
The future of Ukraine could be decided in the coming days and weeks, Volodymyr Zelensky said in a solemn address to the nation on Friday, November 21. The gravity of the moment echoed another video, recorded on the second day of the Russian invasion on February 25, 2022, in which the Ukrainian president had promised his compatriots he would stay to defend the country's independence as Russian tanks advanced toward the capital.
Three and a half years later, as Donald Trump increases pressure on Kyiv to find a way out of the war and threatens to end the sharing of crucial US intelligence with Ukraine, Zelensky's speech called on his people for unity, stating that the country faced a "very difficult choice": "Either the loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a major partner."
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