Statehood is Ukraine’s Past, Present, and Future

Today, July 15, we mark Ukrainian Statehood Day. This date commemorates more than a thousand years of Ukrainian state-building and embodies our nation’s effort and determination to live in freedom, shape its own future, and build its own state.

For centuries, Ukrainian statehood has been subjected to attempts to erase, deny, and appropriate it. Today, russia continues those attempts. Once again, Ukrainians are defending not only their borders and their people, but also their identity, historical memory, national symbols, the right to live on their own land, and the values upon which Ukraine has stood for centuries.

That is why statehood is not an abstract concept. It is the people who defend the country and those who preserve it for future generations. It is communities that continue to live and work despite constant shelling. It is soldiers, human rights defenders, volunteers, doctors, and educators – people who do everything they can, every day, to keep Ukraine strong and free. Statehood lives in the right to remain in your home, the ability to speak native language, the freedom to be yourself, and the confidence that no one will be left alone in times of hardship.

In its daily work, East SOS is guided by the values that underpin Ukrainian statehood: protecting human rights, supporting those forced to flee their homes or affected by the war, assisting residents of frontline hromadas, and documenting russian war crimes to help bring justice closer.

Today, preserving Ukrainian statehood means carrying forward the work of generations of Ukrainians – defending our land and safeguarding our values.

It will endure for as long as our shared resistance, solidarity, and determination to fight for the future endure.