Ukraine's ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has congratulated her compatriots on the occasion of Independence Day and urged them to rise and fight against the dictatorship and "the power of the thieves."
“Rise and fight! No one has the right to engage in feuds, confrontation, opportunism and political negligence. No responsible person has the right to remain neutral. The coming elections are not merely the opposition forces’ struggle against those in power. These elections are a fight fought by all reasonable and strong people against the absolute evil that has been growing stronger in Ukraine. There is one thing we must not do on the 21st year of our independence. We must not leave our young country face to face with the kleptocrats, occupation forces and dictators, and we must not become accustomed to their level of immorality. We must not yield and we must not surrender our principles and our country,” she said in a message to the nation.
“The 21st year of independence is the 21st year of victories and errors, successes and failures,” she said.
“It is the year when a person becomes an adult. There is a term in psychology – the crisis of those in their twenties. It is the age when one wants to become the best and score the highest achievements. But this cannot be attained at first go. If everything were fine today, and if Ukraine were going through this crisis of positive maximalism, characteristic of its age, trying to become appealing and successful, to win, to amaze the world and make plans – we could feel confident on its 21st birthday and have no doubts about it consistent strategic future. But all of us know that this is not so, that attempts are being made to age us artificially as a nation,” the ex-prime minister said.
“I do not want to think and I never will that the feeling of dignity and honor in the proud Ukrainians’ hearts has been supplanted by primitive materialism, and their intellect and wisdom by political propaganda and language adventurism. I know you are different. Your are real,” Tymoshenko said.
“On your birthday I wish you, my Ukraine, to stand tall, to take a deep breath and fill your heart again with faith and hope, taken away from you after the Orange Revolution. I know that the scars left by the cynical betrayals of those times are still burning. But we must step on the path of recovery. We must get back to struggle and to life again. There are times of trials ahead of us. Some say we have lost our battle. But everything remains in our hands. We still have a chance to change everything. Fight and win! Be victorious, my Ukraine! Happy Birthday!” Tymoshenko writes.
