New Year's Address by the President: Zelensky Gives Unifying Speech, While Channels 5 and Pryamyi Show Poroshenko at Midnight

How the current and former presidents congratulated Ukrainians on the New Year.

Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Ukrainians on the New Year in Ukrainian, Russian and Crimean Tatar. In his address, the president called on Ukrainians to answer the question "Who am I?" and to unite, regardless of religion, native language or political views.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

Who am I? The President of Ukraine? An ordinary housewife? A successful lawyer? A philosophy student from Mohyla? An agronomist from Cherkasy region? Who am I? A former photographer who is defending the country in the East? A former physicist washing dishes in Italy? Or a former chemist who is building a skyscraper in Novosibirsk? A doctor from Donetsk who moved and opened his own practice. A teacher from Luhansk who moved, spent two years driving a taxi and, in the end, came back? Who am I? The one who has lived abroad for 10 years and loves Ukraine on the Internet? The one who lost everything in Crimea and started from scratch in Kharkiv? An IT specialist who dreams of leaving the country? Or a prisoner who dreamed of returning home? Who am I? A resident of Ivano-Frankivsk who defends his native language? A native of Gurzuf who preserves his native language (spoken in Crimean Tatar. – Ed.)? A resident of Berehove who preserves his native language? (spoken in Hungarian. – Ed.)? Or a resident of Kramatorsk who speaks his native language? The one who learned Ukrainian because it is normal to know the state language? The one who does not want to do so? Who am I? The one who pays taxes. Cuts people off on the road. Keeps a dog at home. Redhead. Muslim. Has hearing impairment. Hates olives. Liberal. Straight-A student. Has not watched "Game of Thrones". Sanguine. Vegan. Capricorn. Does not give up a seat on the metro. Blood donor. Has rejected plastic.
This is each of us. These are Ukrainians. As they are. Not perfect and not saints. Simply people. Alive. With their flaws and "quirks". But our passports do not say whether someone is a right or wrong Ukrainian. There is no line saying patriot, Little Russian, patriot-in-name or Banderite. It says: citizen of Ukraine. Who has rights and obligations. We are very different from one another. So who are we?

The 73% who voted for the president? The 25% who do not accept him? Or those who did not vote at all? Those who celebrate Christmas on December 25 or those who do on January 7? Those who celebrate March 8 or consider it a relic of the "Soviet" past? Who have known each other for 100 years. And who met in 2014. Those who built the largest airplane in the world. And who put a "plug" in place of a seat belt. Opponents of the land market. Participants of the Kyiv Pride. Do we want freedom of speech or do we applaud the beating of journalists? Do we read Zhadan or listen to Maruv? We watch "The Irony of Fate". We watch "Home Alone". Do we root for Dynamo or for Shakhtar? Or together for Lomachenko and Usyk? Do we go to church on Sunday or do nothing on Saturday? We are those who say "ya tebe kokhayu" or "ya tebya lyublyu".

All of this is us. So how are we, so different, to live together going forward? Fence ourselves off with a huge wall? What if someone convinced us that our differences matter? What if they do not? Does what unites us not outweigh them? We are equally proud of great Ukrainians. Would we stop respecting them if we learned who Shevchenko or Lesya Ukrainka would have voted for? If Skovoroda and Khmelnytsky had different views on NATO? Would it matter to us which church Kadenyuk and Lobanovsky attended? What do Antonov or Korolev think about customs clearance of cars? How do Stupka or Bykov relate to the Normandy format?

We value them for something else. Because what we really value is something else. We were equally delighted when ours qualified for Euro (2020 UEFA European Football Championship. – Ed.). We smile in the same way when we drive on a smooth road. We are equally happy at the birth of a first child. Both a boy and a girl. We are happy when we are in love. Whether in Sloviansk or in Drohobych. And the crosses on the graves of soldiers, whether in Ternopil or in Kryvyi Rih, do not compete in patriotism. And when our sailors and prisoners returned, we all wept with joy: both Ukrainian-speakers and Russian-speakers, both the ordinary housewife and the successful lawyer, and the President of Ukraine.

The text of the address is provided by Censor.net.

The video greeting was also published on the Office of the President's page.

The president's address featured athlete and MP Zhan Beleniuk, rapper Potap, singer Jamala, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk, singers Oleg Vinnik and Volodymyr Dantes, TV host Andriy Shabanov, O.Torvald band leader Yevgeny Galich, first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk and others.

Meanwhile, the TV channels 5 Channel (owned by Petro Poroshenko) and Pryamyi (associated with Petro Poroshenko) aired a New Year's greeting from Ukraine's fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, before midnight. Both channels broadcast Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's address only after midnight. 

Petro Poroshenko
Fifth President of Ukraine

Regardless of who voted for whom in the elections, we are all Ukrainians, we are one Ukrainian people. I want the blue and yellow flag of unity to be more important to each of us in the New Year than party colors. So that, despite internal disagreements, we maintain solidarity in the face of external challenges. Together we are strong.

A year ago, the TV channel 1+1 (owned by Ihor Kolomoisky and the Surkis brothers) did the same with the greeting of then-acting president Petro Poroshenko. The channel aired Poroshenko's video address only after the New Year began, having previously run Volodymyr Zelensky's greeting, who announced his candidacy for president that night.