In his Christmas greeting, Zelensky reminded about Pokrovsk, where the author of “Schedryka” lived

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, has released a greeting on the occasion of Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25. His video address begins with the performance of the choral song “Schedryk”.

Zelensky noted that the composer Mykola Leontovych lived and worked for several years in Pokrovsk, which was then called Hryshyne. There, it is believed, he wrote an edition of the folklore work Shchedryk, which eventually became world-famous. Currently, the city is near the front and is regularly subjected to Russian shelling.

“This is how a Ukrainian gave the world the musical spirit of Christmas. And let every person in the world, hearing him, remember Ukraine. How we fight today for the main symbol of this holiday – for the hope and victory of life. On our land, in every city, in every town, in particular in Pokrovsk. The divine music written there and the evil that Russia brought there clearly shows the difference between us and them,” the president said.

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Zelensky recalled the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called a full-scale war against Ukraine “two-faced”:

“All we need is to live peacefully on our land, to see the sun, our sky, and in it the Christmas star, not Iranian “shahedis” and Russian missiles. But for some, “dwizhuhi” is boring and not enough. These words are proof of how far they are from God, from Christianity, from real faith. And this is proof that their slavery and darkness will lose.”

Ukraine is celebrating its third Christmas in full-scale war, the president said, adding that at this time Ukrainians honor the memory of the dead and pray for soldiers and prisoners.

“For the second time, we celebrate Christmas on the same date as one big family, one country. For the second time in recent history, Christmas unites all Ukrainians. We are side by side today. And we will not get lost. In person or in our minds, we will greet each other, call parents, kiss children, hug relatives, remember our own. In person, at a distance or in the soul – Ukrainians are together today. And as long as we do that, evil has no chance,” he said.

In 2023, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) for the first time, together with most local Orthodox churches of the world, celebrated Christmas on December 25 according to the New Julian calendar.