Ukraine marks Defenders Day: Zelensky thanks the military and announces new strikes on Russia

Ukraine marked Defenders Day on 1 October, honouring those serving in the country’s military, as Russia’s full-scale invasion continues.

“Thank you to all our defenders who are working to return Russia’s sick war to where it came from”, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, as The Kyiv Independent reports.

The President also announced that Ukrainian forces had struck a target in the Black Sea, a site in Russia’s Oryol region used for launching and storing attack drones, an oil facility in the Samara region and a supply depot supporting Russian forces in the Bryansk region. “These are exactly the kinds of just responses that are needed now. We will continue to deprive Russia of the ability to continue this war”, Zelensky said.

Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi noted in his Defenders Day message a defining feature of Ukraine’s war: reliance on innovation, unmanned systems, precision and unconventional solutions, not on numbers. “While the aggressor tries to defeat us with quantities of old metal and ‘meat assaults’, we are betting on innovation and unmanned systems, precise calculations and unconventional solutions, preserving and developing our human capital as much as possible”, Drapatyi said.

Drapatyi also noted Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign: “Our drones have changed the rules on the battlefield, while precise long-range strikes are systematically burning the enemy’s resources and logistics deep in its rear”.

Ukraine marks Defenders Day every year on 1 October, honouring those who have fought for the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The date coincides with the Feast of the Intercession (Pokrova), a holiday historically linked to Ukraine’s Cossack traditions. Ukraine also marks Ukrainian Cossacks Day and Veterans Day on 1 October.