By Brian Whitmore
As Russia’s full-scale reinvasion of Ukraine approached the half-year mark, Volodymyr Zelensky had victory on his mind.
“We can and should think only about how to win,” the Ukrainian president said in his Aug. 18 address to the nation.
And on the six-month anniversary of the invasion on Aug. 24, a date that coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day, Zelensky spoke even more forcefully about victory—and spelling out exactly what that would mean.
“For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, aircraft, and tanks, but shackles. Not trenches, but fetters. And we will put our hands up only once—when we will celebrate our victory,” Zelensky said that day.