By Gloria Ogbonna
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his Christmas Eve address to blend messages of family, faith, and national unity with a sharp condemnation of Russia’s ongoing war, describing the invading forces as “godless” and inhuman while reaffirming Ukraine’s determination to endure.
Delivering the nationally televised speech on Wednesday night, Zelensky reflected on the deep cultural and spiritual meaning of Christmas Eve across Eastern Europe, where the night is often as significant—if not more so—than Christmas Day itself. He spoke of “love for our homes, our roots, our traditions,” while invoking the birth of Jesus Christ as a symbol of hope and moral clarity in a time of suffering.
Ukraine traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7, following the Julian calendar used by much of the Orthodox world. However, in 2023, the country officially shifted the holiday to December 25, a move widely seen as a symbolic break from Russia and an effort to prevent Ukrainians from celebrating the birth of Christ on the same day as their wartime adversary.
Alluding to this change, Zelensky told viewers that “millions of us will wait for the first star in the sky tonight,” adding that Ukrainians across the country would mark Christmas together “on the same date as one big family.”
Turning to the war, Zelensky said this was the fourth consecutive year in which Ukrainians had faced attempts to have Christmas stolen from them by violence and aggression.
He framed the conflict not only as a fight for territory, but as a struggle to protect family life, peace, and the simple human desire for calm in one’s own home. Despite the devastation inflicted by Russia, he said, the country had failed to destroy what truly mattered: “our Ukrainian heart.”
Zelensky pointed to renewed Russian airstrikes launched overnight into Wednesday morning—Christmas Eve—as evidence of what he described as Russia’s moral emptiness.
According to the Ukrainian president, the attacks involved massive shelling, hundreds of drones, and ballistic missiles. “This is how the godless strike,” he said. “This is how those act who have absolutely nothing in common with Christianity or anything human.” Yet, he added, Ukraine continued to endure.
While Zelensky did not mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name, his remarks included what many interpreted as a pointed and deeply symbolic reference.
Drawing on the Eastern European tradition in which children watch the sky on Christmas Eve for the first star—believed to signal that the heavens are open—Zelensky said Ukrainians shared a single dream and a single wish. “May he perish,” he suggested, implying a collective hope for the end of the man seen as responsible for the war.
Even so, the president tempered the harshness of his words by stressing that Ukrainians ultimately turned to God for something greater than vengeance. “We ask for peace in Ukraine,” he said, emphasizing that the nation’s deepest desire remained an end to the bloodshed.
The fighting did not pause for the holiday. Russian forces reportedly launched more than 130 drones into Ukraine overnight into Christmas Day. Though smaller in scale than some of the massive barrages seen earlier in the year, the attacks were still deadly, with at least two people killed and dozens injured, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia, for its part, claimed that Ukraine also carried out drone attacks during the same period. The Kremlin said its air defenses intercepted 141 Ukrainian drones, reporting that one person was injured and two fuel tanks were set ablaze.
As Ukraine marked Christmas under the shadow of war, Zelensky’s address sought to rally the nation around shared faith, shared suffering, and a shared hope—one that, despite continued violence, remains fixed on peace and survival.
Source Breitbart
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