President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “Today is an important day – a day of one of our strongest emotions: the feeling you get when you are at home, or when you recognize your own people and what comes from your homeland.

“And wherever you are in the world, whichever country you may travel to, when you spot the Ukrainian flag, you realize that the people beside you may be strangers to you personally, but their hearts are unmistakably familiar.

 “This very flag embodies a feeling of deliverance for those we bring back from Russian captivity. When they see the Ukrainian colors, they understand: the evil is over.

“This flag is the goal and the dream for many of our people in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. And they safeguard this flag, they keep it safe, because they know: we will not hand our land to the occupier.

“This flag represents everything dearest to hundreds of thousands of our warriors – men and women from all over Ukraine, who are defending not just one particular direction, not only Vovchansk or Dobropillia, but our entire Ukraine, and who are risking their lives to win the right to life for our entire state.

 “And may everyone who has contributed to such strength of Ukraine’s colors hear these words today, which are, above all, words of gratitude. They are richly deserved.”

Long live Ukraine! May our blue-and-yellow flag always fly proudly! Happy Flag Day, dear Ukrainians! Glory to Ukraine!