It has been fought for for generations, from the Cossack state-building struggle to the short existence of the Ukrainian People's Republic, whose experience was preserved and germinated in 1991. After 2014, independence ceased to be a formal declaration and became a daily duty, and since 2022, a matter of the nation's survival.
This past shows that freedom is not given, it is earned, and since then it needs daily protection. For everyone, without exception. But once again, what is independence? Independence is not based on holidays or dates on the calendar, nor is it measured by parades and T-shirt inscriptions.
Independence means freedom from external control and the ability to determine our own future - from the policies we pursue to the risks we take and the victories we win. We dream of a Ukraine that does not need anyone else's security guarantees, that decides for itself who will sit at the negotiating table and when, that dictates the rules rather than follows them. Where citizens do not wait for the government to act, but participate in a common cause; where there is no cult of leaders and no excuses, but rather a willingness of everyone to take their burden. Where any enemy will think twice before attacking, because they know that they will be repulsed. This is a Ukraine that does not adapt, but shapes the agenda; that knows how to act quickly and decisively, because it knows that there is no other way. You may say that this is too ambitious, but the truth is that we have no other options.
Everything fades into the background when it comes to the physical survival of the state and its citizens. We do not have a second chance. We must be flexible and constantly adapt to the changing enemy. A minimum of words and a maximum of action, tough pragmatism and absolute priority of survival.
Our mission every day, not just on August 24, is to build this independence. Not with loud speeches, but with routine work - training, production, experiments, constant attempts to improve even what already works. Our KPIs are an enemy tank destroyed by a Ukrainian drone, an enemy electronic warfare system destroyed, and videos of the liquidated occupiers that give meaning to our training and the work of engineers. These are the results that inspire us to move forward and carve out our right to the future. Our goal is not one-time acts of revenge, but the systematic destruction of the enemy by technology turned into an exact science. We strive to do this better, on a larger scale, and more efficiently, because this is the only way to make justice inevitable. And so we affirm: The sacrifices of those who died for the freedom of Ukraine were not in vain.
History has shown that no one else can build a secure future for us. Independence means the ability to decide how and where we protect ourselves. We have this right only when we take responsibility for its assertion. Are you with us?