Amid continuing diplomatic efforts to end the long war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday marked the country’s Independence Day with a speech in Kyiv’s central square, reminding Ukrainians that they are still fighting for freedom.
He later met with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, who arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in a show of diplomatic support. President Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, also arrived in Kyiv over the weekend for talks with Mr. Zelensky. Both Mr. Carney and Mr. Kellogg attended the Independence Day celebrations.
The Ukrainian leader made his speech in the square known as the Maidan, a place of great symbolic importance to Ukrainians and the site of enormous protests in 2013 that culminated in the ouster of the country’s pro-Russian president Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Mr. Zelensky expressed hope that in the future “on this square, on the Maidan of our independence, under our own flags, on our own land, our children and grandchildren will celebrate Independence Day — in peace.”
The holiday marks the day in 1991 when Ukraine’s Parliament voted to reject Soviet rule. In a referendum later that year, 92 percent of Ukrainians voted for independence, including a majority of voters in the regions in the east that Russia now claims to have annexed.
This month, Mr. Trump met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Alaska for talks on a peace settlement for Ukraine that hinge on Russian demands that Kyiv retreat from territory it now controls in parts of the country’s east.
It is not clear where the recent diplomatic efforts spearheaded by Mr. Trump to end the deadliest war in Europe since World War II will lead, and experts say that most Ukrainians doubt that Russia is sincere about trying to end the conflict.
The Russian demands for territory have been rejected by Mr. Zelensky and are widely opposed in Ukraine. Last week, European leaders traveled to Washington with Mr. Zelensky in a show of support for the Ukrainian leader, and to display unity with each other.
Norway announced on Sunday that it and Germany would provide Ukraine with two American-made Patriot air-defense systems, including missiles.
Mykhailo Samus, the director of the independent New Geopolitics Research Network in Kyiv, said most people in Ukraine did not believe that Mr. Putin had any intention of reaching a peace agreement.
Therefore, he said, the country is expecting more violence in coming months. “Of course, Russian offensives and strikes will go on,” Mr. Samus said. “Trump thought the red carpet would impress Putin,” he added, “but Putin just wants to grab Ukraine and is not interested either in money or in red carpets.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said he believed that reaching peace this year “is absolutely impossible.” He added that “negotiations for Russia are a tool for war.”
Both sides have kept up relentless attacks on each other even as the diplomatic efforts to end the war have continued.
Russian media reported on Sunday that at least 150 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 10 regions of Russia. And Ukraine said that Russia had launched 72 drones and one ballistic missile overnight on Ukrainian cities.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, speaking on Saturday at a congress of his Christian Democratic Union party, said that despite taking the first step toward peace, a long journey remained.
“I’ll put it figuratively,” he said, “we are on a 10-kilometer course and have maybe covered the first 200 meters — no more.”
Anastasia Kuznietsova contributed reporting.
Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and its war with Russia.
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