Zelensky in his Christmas greeting stated: “We dream that it will disappear”

On December 25, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the citizens with a Christmas greeting. For the first time in the country’s modern history, the holiday is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar as a national holiday — regardless of denomination, tradition, or region.

Formally, it was a festive address. In fact, it was a harsh political statement made against the backdrop of another wave of Russian airstrikes on Ukraine on the eve of Christmas.

Harsh Tone Without Religious Reservations

In his speech, Zelensky directly linked the events to the moral dimension of the war. He called those who launch missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities during the Christmas days “godless” and emphasized that such actions have nothing to do with Christianity.

This was not a figure of speech or a rhetorical device for the domestic audience. The President consciously used the religious context to show the contrast between the meaning of the holiday and the reality of the war that Russia continues to wage against Ukraine.

One Formula for the Whole Country

Particular attention was drawn to the part of the address where Zelensky spoke about wishes and prayers.

He emphasized that Ukrainians may have many personal requests to God — for loved ones, for health, for the future. But there is one common feeling that, according to him, every Ukrainian mentally formulates the same way these days: “that he may perish.”

At the same time, the President immediately drew a line between emotion and official position. The common prayer, he stressed, is not about revenge, but about peace for the country and the end of the war.

How It Was Heard in the West

Although Zelensky did not name a specific name, Western media almost unanimously interpreted his words as a hint at Russia’s Putin. Analytical materials emphasized that such wording reflects not only the President’s personal position but also the public sentiment in Ukraine after nearly three years of full-scale war.

For the international audience, this became another confirmation: even during religious holidays, the Ukrainian agenda remains not abstract but extremely specific — war, responsibility, and moral assessment of what is happening.

Response from Moscow

The Russian side reacted quickly. Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov called Zelensky’s words “strange and undiplomatic,” characterizing them as “uncultured and embittered.”

In the Russian interpretation, such rhetoric, according to Peskov, allegedly calls into question the possibility of “adequate solutions” in the conflict resolution issue. However, the commentary did not mention the strikes on Ukraine during the Christmas period.

Christmas as a Political Marker

Zelensky’s greeting showed that for Ukraine, religious dates no longer exist separately from the war. Christmas in 2025 became not only a symbol of faith and hope but also a moment of harsh fixation on reality: the country continues to live under the threat of missiles and drones, and the language of official addresses leaves less room for diplomatic nuances.

Such a juxtaposition of religious meanings and military aggression once again brought the Ukrainian agenda into the international information field — not as “another news,” but as a moral question addressed to the outside world.

That is why Zelensky’s Christmas address turned out to be not just a greeting, but another point of tension in the global conversation about war, responsibility, and the boundaries of the permissible — NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.