The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, sent a congratulatory letter to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, for Ukraine’s National Day, accusing Russia of violating Ukraine’s independence and criticizing “so-called mediators” of peace.
On the occasion of the 34th anniversary of independence, “the President of the Republic sends to Ukraine, the Ukrainian People, and President Volodymyr Zelensky an even more supportive embrace,” states the letter released by the presidency, in which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa explains why it is “even more supportive.”
“Because, now more than ever, it suits the invader who violated this independence to pretend there was no invasion. And that it is possible to move forward with a peace agreement without a ceasefire and to use the peace agreement to negotiate pieces of Ukrainian territory that it occupied and continues to try to occupy,” asserts the Portuguese head of state.
Marcelo also denounces that “so-called mediators emerge and will continue to emerge who, months ago, were enthusiastic supporters of Ukraine and conspicuously confuse a dignified, lasting, and respectful peace with the values and principles of International Law with what benefits those who invaded, occupied, and tried everything to gain time and erase the memory.”
“Portugal does not change its values and principles, nor does it change sides,” assures the President, stating that the country “continues to stand by Ukraine and its independence, as before 2022, in 2022, 2023, 2024. Always.”
U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussing territory concessions, but the participation of the belligerents still seems far from guaranteed.
Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the unity of Ukrainians, which no “temporary occupation” can change, without predicting a quick liberation of the territories under Russian control.
Lusa | 09:31 – 24/08/2025
Months after the invasion in February 2022, Russia declared the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, after having invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize the legitimacy of the annexations.
Russia currently occupies about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, a former Soviet republic that Putin argues should not be an independent country, but rather be part of the Russian Federation.
Kyiv refuses any concession of the territory it held when it became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Zelensky reiterated this today in a message related to the national flag day.
“This flag is the goal and the dream of many of our compatriots in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. And they protect it, keep it safe, because they know we will not give our land to the occupier,” he stated, quoted by EFE.
The war by Russia against Ukraine has caused tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties, according to estimates from various sources, although the exact number is unknown.
