There are heroic gestures by few men that change the course of history.
One of them took place here, on the 24th of February two years ago.

Here, where the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people started.

Here, where Putin’s plan to overthrow the democratically elected government in few days and replace it with a puppet government, which would respond to his instructions, failed.

This place is a symbol of Moscow’s failure.

This place is a symbol of Ukrainian pride.

In this place we breathe history, and history reminds us that there is something stronger than missiles, bombs, hunger or cold. And that something is love for the Homeland, love for freedom, and the will to ensure a future of prosperity and well-being for one’s children.

A verse of the Ukrainian national anthem says: “We will give our bodies and souls for our freedom.” It happened here, on this runway, among what remains of the world’s largest aircraft, it happened here that brave and proud Ukrainians gave their bodies and their souls for their freedom and their Nation, igniting that hope that has given soul and body in these two years’ resistance.

Everything around us reminds us of what happened in this decisive battle. And what remains on the ground turns this place into a hymn to freedom. 

And here we are today to say thanks to those men and women who, on the 24th of February two years ago, did not run away and instead fought, for themselves, for their families, for what they hold most dear.

Europe, the West, are here to celebrate an act of love because here the Ukrainians defended what they loved and, in so doing, they also defended us. They fought to give us the chance to be here today, to say that this land is a piece of our home, and that we will do our part to defend it.

Since that battle, 730 days have now passed. For 730 days, Ukrainians have been reminding us what it means to believe in one’s freedom and one’s nation. For 730 days Ukrainians have been explaining to us that surviving does not necessarily mean living. For 730 days Ukrainians have been showing the world that no help can be enough if, upstream, there is not someone determined to fight.

This place tells us all this, here where the first page was written to return a future of freedom to Ukraine.
Thank you.