Year-End Speech, President Zelensky: No One in the West is Afraid of Russia

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared his country a "global leader" in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to remain united in the face of a Russian invasion and praising Ukraine for helping the West "reinvent itself".

In a year-end address held behind closed doors because of the war with Russia, President Zelensky said Ukraine's military resistance to the Kremlin had revived faith in values ​​around the world.

"Thanks to our unity, we achieved what almost no one in the world could believe. There was almost no one - except us," he told lawmakers, cabinet, senior officials, and military top brass.

"Our national color today is a symbol of international courage and the persistence of the whole world," he said in the 45-minute speech.

While this year's end-of-the-year speech is heavily focused on war, President Zelensky also uses it to outline ideas - such as decentralizing the energy system and making it greener - to rebuild a strong and prosperous nation.

Thanking Western partners for arms supplies, President Zelensky also said Ukraine would spawn a strong home-based defense industry, which "will be one of the most powerful in Europe and the world".

He further said that Ukraine will increase the number of Starlink internet service terminals it has to more than 30.000. It is known, the SpaceX unit is very important to maintain internet access in places affected by Russian airstrikes.

On the occasion, President Zelensky also told parliament that Ukraine had secured the release of 1,456 prisoners of war since the Russian invasion, the result of a series of prisoner exchanges with Moscow.

Russia is thought to be holding thousands of Ukrainian POWs, but exact figures are unknown.

President Zelensky added that Ukraine's war effort had helped consolidate and unite the European Union. Ukraine is known to have applied to join the European Union and the NATO military alliance.

"Ukraine is becoming one of the global leaders," he said.

"During 10 months of this year, we helped everyone. We helped the West to find itself again, to return to the global arena, and feel how the West is winning. No one in the West is afraid or feels afraid of Russia," concluded President Zelensky.