For yet another time we find ourselves in a situation where our psychological resilience and strength of spirit become decisive, the qualities that allow us to keep fighting even in the darkest moments. The enemy is trying to force us to surrender, first and foremost in our minds, because it has failed to defeat us on the battlefield as it had planned. Our despair and hopelessness are the last weapon of the Russians, on which they are now placing their main bet.
The key factor in Ukraine’s survival has been and remains the Defence Forces. Soldiers, sergeants, and officers who, despite forecasts and the noise of information, despite fatigue, disappointment, pain, and fear, and even in the face of death itself, stubbornly continue day after day to perform their duties effectively.
Today, at a moment when both the enemy and fate once again test us for strength, we must remember what and why, for eleven years now, we have been fighting against the Russian Federation – a humongous machine of death whose purpose is to destroy everything that refuses to submit. We must recall how many times our state has stood on the edge of the abyss, and by what superhuman efforts the Ukrainian soldier has each time prevented its fall. And now, as in 2014, 2022, and throughout all the other years of the war, we have no other option than, while gritting our teeth, grip our weapons even tighter and refuse to give in to despair.
If we lower our arms, Ukraine will not survive. We have paid an extremely high price and continue to pay it every minute so that we do not collapse into hopelessness today. The fate of the Ukrainian nation lies in the hands of everyone who is now on the front line, who builds a reliable rear, who supports the military and works for the development of the state. This is not a pathos-filled exaggeration; it is the result of our actions or inaction, our effectiveness or ineffectiveness, multiplied by time. This must be accepted, and the appropriate conclusions must be drawn from the understanding that everything depends on us. I emphasise: on each and every one of us.
The task of Ukrainian society today is even greater, more active, and comprehensive support for the front. This support begins with a personal struggle against despair: resisting Russian information attacks on our consciousness, rejecting the surrender scenarios invented by Russia, and maintaining confidence in the necessity for everyone, in their own place, to give their utmost for the common cause.
For us, 2025 was a year of difficult trials and transformations. Azov successfully held back enemy offensive actions on some of the most challenging sections of the front, expanded into a corps, continued to develop and build up its combat power, and, sadly, also lost some of its most worthy fighters. We will avenge them.
In 2026, we will continue to hold the line for those who come after us. In memory of all those who have fallen in this war. Of those who were tortured and starved to death in past centuries. For the sake of the hundreds of Azov fighters who have been held in Russian captivity for more than three and a half years, and whose return home is our duty. For the sake of all future generations who must live in a free Ukraine, not under Russian occupation. And finally, for the sake of our own dignity, fidelity to our oath, and the ability, in the future, to look at our reflection in the mirror without remorse. A future whose sole guarantor is the Ukrainian military.
We hold the line!
We destroy the occupiers!