Portugal\u2019s president on Monday sent a message to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, \u00aband to all Ukrainian citizens\u00bb, to mark Ukraine\u2019s Independence Day, paying tribute to those \u00abwho are defending this independence on the ground\u00bb.<\/p>\n
In the video message, Ant\u00f3nio Jos\u00e9 Seguro emphasised that \u00abPortugal\u2019s support for Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the courageous Ukrainian people remains and will continue to be unconditional, just as it has been from day one\u00bb, according to a statement issued by the presidency office.<\/p>\n
Reiterating that Portugal \u00abwill continue to provide political, humanitarian, financial and military support to Ukraine for as long as necessary\u00bb, the head of state \u00abexpressed his sincere hope that the celebrations on 24 August 2027 will take place in a time of peace\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00abThe 35th anniversary of Ukraine\u2019s independence represents, today, four years on from the start of a tragic war, a twofold victory: the victory of time, which has consolidated national identity, and the victory of the collective will of the courageous Ukrainian people, who refuse to yield to force,\u00bb emphasised Seguro.<\/p>\n
The president remarked that \u00abtoday is a day to honour those who are defending this independence on the ground; it is a day to recognise the sacrifice of so many families; it is a day to reaffirm a people\u2019s ability to keep their sovereignty alive, even when it is directly and repeatedly challenged\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00abThese 35 years of independence are a living testament to the fact that a people\u2019s identity is not measured by the absence of adversity, but by the way in which they face it,\u00bb continued Seguro, adding that \u00abthe friendship between Portugal and Ukraine is a friendship between peoples who share fundamental values and a common determination to defend freedom, democracy and respect for international law\u00bb .<\/p>\n
The president concluded his message with the now famous Ukrainian greeting \u00abSlava Ukraini!\u00bb (Glory to Ukraine).<\/p>\n
The ministry of foreign affairs also published a message of congratulations addressed to Kyiv on its official X social media account, stating that \u00abPortugal celebrates with the entire Ukrainian people the 35th anniversary of Ukraine\u2019s independence\u00bb from the former Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
\u00abPortugal reaffirms its support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty, territorial integrity and European future. It also condemns the atrocious attacks of recent weeks. Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!\u00bb, the message concluded.<\/p>\n
To mark the 35th anniversary of independence, Kyiv is hosting a new meeting of the Coalition of the willing on Ukraine \u2013 the group of countries, including Portugal, willing to provide security guarantees to Kyiv in the event of a peace agreement with Russia \u2013 as announced last week by the French Presidency.<\/p>\n
At a meeting scheduled to begin at 13:00 (11:00 Lisbon time), which will take place in a \u00abhybrid\u00bb format \u2013 with some leaders in Kyiv and others participating via videoconference \u2013 Ukraine\u2019s allies are expected to reaffirm \u00abtheir determination to step up the pressure on Russia\u00bb and will continue \u00abtheir coordination on measures aimed at reducing the resources\u00bb available to Russia to fund its war effort; it is expected that the strengthening of air defences called for by Zelensky will be discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portugal\u2019s president on Monday sent a message to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, \u00aband to all Ukrainian citizens\u00bb,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[983],"class_list":["post-32763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}