US President Donald Trump has joined world leaders in sending messages of solidarity to Ukraine as the country marked its 34th Independence Day on Sunday amid ongoing conflict with Russia. In a letter shared by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump praised Ukraine\u2019s courage and resilience, affirming Washington\u2019s belief in its future as a free and independent state. \u201cThe people of Ukraine have an unbreakable spirit, and your country\u2019s courage inspires many,\u201d Trump wrote, adding that the United States supports a negotiated settlement leading to \u201ca durable, lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and dignity.\u201d
The Independence Day messages came against the backdrop of heavy fighting, with Ukraine reporting waves of drone and missile strikes from Russia on the eve of the celebrations. Ukrainian officials said their air defenses intercepted the majority of the 72 drones and a ballistic missile launched overnight, while Moscow claimed to have destroyed 95 Ukrainian drones across several regions. Russian authorities also said a Ukrainian UAV caused a fire at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant after striking a transformer, though they confirmed radiation levels remained stable.
In his national address, Zelensky delivered a defiant message to Ukrainians, declaring that the country would continue to celebrate Independence Day \u201ca hundred years from now\u201d and would never accept what he called Russia\u2019s idea of \u201ccompromise.\u201d He emphasized that Ukraine is \u201cnot a victim, but a fighter\u201d and stressed that the nation\u2019s future would be determined solely by its people. \u201cUkraine has not yet fully won, but it will certainly not lose,\u201d he said, underscoring the country\u2019s determination to secure a just peace on its own terms.
Other global leaders also sent greetings, including China\u2019s Xi Jinping, Britain\u2019s King Charles, and Pope Leo XIV, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney marked the occasion with his first official visit to Kyiv, reaffirming Canada\u2019s \u201cunwavering\u201d support. Keith Kellogg, a former US envoy on Russia-Ukraine affairs, attended the celebrations in person.
The show of international solidarity comes as diplomatic momentum around peace talks stalls and Russian President Vladimir Putin signals his intent to continue the war. Trump, who met with Putin in Alaska earlier this month without reaching a deal, has suggested giving the Russian leader \u201ca couple of weeks\u201d to return to negotiations. Despite the uncertainty, Ukraine\u2019s leaders say their independence is secure \u2014 and their fight for sovereignty will endure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump has joined world leaders in sending messages of solidarity to Ukraine as the country marked its 34th Independence Day on Sunday amid ongoing conflict with Russia. In a letter shared by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump praised Ukraine\u2019s courage and resilience, affirming Washington\u2019s belief in its future as a free and independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-92-1.jpeg?fit=648%2C474&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17060,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17059\/revisions\/17060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}