"If we could change the past...". This is how Zelensky writes in a book that brings together his speeches

I would be the happiest person in the world if the book you are holding in your hands had never been published.

If the speeches I gave after February 24, 2022 had never been written or said and if the ones I gave after the invasion had never been heard or read.

I know it is abrupt to start this introduction like this.

In the case of the vast majority of books, it would be too much.

This is the exception.

I am not writing these words to try to get attention or to make myself famous.

The reason why I need your attention is too painful;

the price of "fame" too high.

It is the war that has been unleashed against Ukraine.

They are the thousands of lives that Russia has taken.

If we could change the past… there are so many things I would give up without thinking.

The applause and admiration of countries around the world.

He would prefer that when people hear Zelensky's name, he would ask, "Who?"

I wish I had never heard the applause of the US Congress, the British House of Commons or the European Parliament, and that Ukraine had never heard the noise of explosions and gunshots that have been fired in our homeland.

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If we could change the past... I'd rather it not be my face on the cover of

, but that of a doctor dedicated to finding a cure for cancer;

that lists of the world's most influential people should not focus on politicians, but on scientists exploring ways to end hunger and global warming, chemical and biological warfare, even the nuclear threat to which face the planet.

If we could change the past... I would renounce all the mentions that have been made of my name in the world press, all the times my posts have been shared on social networks.

My heart doesn't care if I get new followers on Instagram and Facebook;

All I feel is how pain breaks through me for the thousands of people killed in Bucha and Izium, for all the deceased Ukrainians.

Assuming you live on planet Earth, you surely know what has been happening in Ukraine for the past eight years.

Assuming you're in your right mind—that you have clear-headedness and an empathetic heart—you already know how important the date February 24, 2022 is.

Maybe you understand why writing “fr” with a lower case is, at the very least, fair [russian federation;

the Ukrainian government does not capitalize the name of Russia because it considers that doing so would grant it undue political legitimacy].

You may even understand why I started the introduction this way: abrupt, intense, dissonant.

Such are the times in which it has been written.

Such is the war in which these words have been spoken.

You're right.

In the vast majority of books, this beginning would have been too much.

This book is the exception.

But this is not a book about how powerless we are to change the past.

It is about how we can build the future.

And how Ukraine and its people are already doing it.

This process did not begin on February 24.

Ukraine did not appear on the world map at the beginning of 2022. Ukrainians were not born at the time of the fr invasion.

We were, we are and we will be;

We have existed, we exist and we will continue to exist.

And as grateful as we are for the help, support and care the world has given us, we must not begin to take the courage of our people for granted.

War must not become normal.

Do not forget about Ukraine.

Don't get tired of Ukraine.

Don't let our bravery “go out of style”.

Above all, listen to our message: it is the same one that rang out loud and clear on our Independence Day this year [last August 24], and it will ring out until the last “fr” soldier leaves our territory.

'What will the end of the war bring?

We used to say “peace”.

Now we say “victory”.

first and last speech

“We are not the ones who started this war, but we are the ones who must end it.

And we are prepared to dialogue with that objective.

What will bring the end of the war?

We used to say: 'Peace'.

Now we say: 'Victory'.

These words are taken from the first speech and the last one that I collect.

They are separated by three years and three months: from May 20, 2019 to August 24, 2022. This is the period in the history of Ukraine through which I am going to guide you.

This is the path we have traveled as a nation.

The above words succinctly describe how I have changed, how my team and my people have changed.

We did not want war.

We did everything possible to avoid it.

I was uttering words to that effect from the time I was sworn in as president until the hours before the Russian invasion.

Every time the "fr" set fire to the powder keg, we put it out.

We did not respond to their provocations or take any action when they violated each and every agreement that the two countries had reached.

We have always directed our efforts towards peace, we have always relied on diplomacy, we have always called for dialogue and negotiation.

At four o'clock in the morning on February 24, we received the response of the "fr."

Her actions made that clear.

They wanted to destroy Ukraine, wipe us off the face of the earth as a state and as a people.

It was not the first time, of course, that Ukrainians had heard that answer.

Many invaders have pronounced it throughout many ages and in many languages.

And for everyone it ended the same way.

In the end, all the invading armies fled back over the border they had made the mistake of crossing.

They abandoned their weapons and supplies in a hurry and barely left our country.

This is what the forces of the “fr” have also done.

They cursed the day they set foot on our land and saw how the kind and easy-going people of Ukraine turned into a lion ready to destroy any enemy.

They have witnessed how affable and hospitable people have become warriors and have not offered them the grain of their fields, but the lead of their rifles.

They have witnessed how the military has been joined by students and scientists, musicians and actors, teachers and doctors, engineers and peasants.

How they have defeated the second most powerful army in the world, how they have sent the flagship of the Russian fleet to the bottom of the sea, how they have learned to use the M270 MLRS and the HIMARS (the missile system built in the United States that the Ukrainian army started using from June 2022) in less than a week, how they have liberated thousands of kilometers of territory in just a few days.

Who are these Ukrainians?

(…)

Discover Ukraine.

Meet our dreams and who have tried to crush them.

Find out what we were like before the invasion, how the war has changed us and why.

Read about our life and our history of the last three years.

And, above all, listen to our message, the one that sounded loud and clear on Independence Day 2022 and will sound until the last soldier of the "fr" leaves our territory.

Volodymyr Zelensky

(Krivoy Rog, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR, 1978), graduated in Law from the Kiev National University of Economics, is the current president of Ukraine, the 6th since the country's independence in 1991. This extract is an editorial preview of his book

, from the Debate publishing house, which will be published on December 1st. 

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