UPDATE - Protecting our homeland gives Ukrainian army strongest possible motivation: President

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT​​​​​​​

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - As they are working to protect their country from outside forces, this gives the Ukrainian Armed Forces the greatest impetus, said the nation’s president early Tuesday.

“Our Armed Forces protect our homeland, and this gives the strongest possible motivation. They fight for freedom, and this always increases any strength. They defend the truth, and therefore the future of Ukraine. We are proud of you, admire you, thank you. To each and every one,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a message on Telegram marking Ukraine’s Army Day.

In a video address on the occasion of the Day of the Armed Forces, recorded during a visit to the eastern Donetsk region​​​​​​​, Zelenskyy also said the Ukrainian army is “an outpost” of the country’s independence.

“The east of Ukraine today is the most difficult direction. And I am honored to be here now with our defenders -- in Donbas. I believe that next time, we will meet in our Ukrainian Donetsk, Luhansk, I am sure that in Crimea as well. Thank you for this resilience and strength. You are an outpost of our independence,” he said.

Zelenskyy added: “I think it is the time of the Armed Forces, the time when everyone sees who the Ukrainian defenders are.”

He noted that all Ukraine is waiting for Ukrainian soldiers to return home alive, believes in them, and helps them in any way possible.

"With steadfastness and selflessness, you are leaving this difficult path through the liberation of the center, north, south, east of our country, through the liberation of our beautiful cities,” he added.

Other Ukrainian officials also took to social media to mark the day amid a war that will soon enter its second calendar year.

“On the Day of the Armed Forces, I want to thank each of you who defend Ukraine. You are heroes. The Ukrainian people and the army are the formula for victory. The basis of our statehood,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, wrote on Telegram.

On Twitter, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal commemorated the memory of all of those who gave their lives for Ukraine’s freedom, adding: “The whole world sees that the power of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is unshakeable, as is our faith in them.”

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov congratulated the members of the Ukrainian army, saying that it is "an honor for me to work with you in this difficult hour of the largest war of the 21st century."

Army Day, also known as the Day of the Armed Forces, celebrates the determination of the main principles and areas of the development of the Ukrainian army through the 1991 passage of two key defense laws.​​​​​​​