Viktor Yushchenko: Ukraine stands

by Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian politician, statesman, third President of Ukraine (2005–2010), and one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution.

Source: Yushchenko on Facebook

Dear fellow Ukrainians,

I speak to you today, in this snowy and bitter February of 2026, feeling in every fiber of my soul the pulse of every Ukrainian field — from the long-suffering Kherson region to iron-strong Zaporizhzhia, from hardworking Mykolaiv to the steppes of Donbas. You know I have always said: Ukrainian black soil is the sacred communion of our history, the very blood and bone of our people, growing into the future with each ear of grain. And today, four years since the start of this massive invasion, we see the enemy continuing to tear at that flesh.

We stand on the summit of historical experience, where parallels between February 1922 and the events of the past four years — from February 2022 to today — are drawn not in ink, but in the unbreakable will of our people. The first point I want to stress is Moscow’s age-old effort to uproot our independence and self-sufficiency.

Look into the mirror of centuries. At the beginning of February 1922, during similar bitter frosts, the occupying Bolshevik horde began the mass confiscation of grain. They understood that as long as Ukrainians had their bread and their granaries, they were unbeatable. From the southern provinces — especially Odesa and Zaporizhzhia — over 13.5 million poods of grain were taken. That’s 220,000 tons of Ukrainian life! That February, a century ago, carts loaded with our grain were driven north under the barrels of rifles, while Ukrainian mothers had nothing to feed their children.

Now look at the past four years since that dark Feb. 24, 2022. The same sacrilege — but on a scale that shakes the world! From 2022 to February 2026, the occupiers have stolen over 17 million tons of our grain from our storage facilities.

Consider the cynicism of today: they have been plundering the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol for years, taking what our farmers sowed under the fire of Grad rockets. They have built a whole industry of lies, mixing our sacred grain with their filth to sell it to the world as their own. They destroy our elevators with missiles when they cannot steal, because their logic has not changed in a hundred years: “If it’s not mine, let it burn.”

This is the same eternal, unyielding treachery.

In 1922, they spoke of a “world revolution.” Today, they speak of “territorial defense.” But what kind of ownership is this, when you have mined every meter of the land? Does a rightful owner mine their own fields, as they have thousands of hectares of Ukrainian soil? This is the psychology of a marauder, aware that his time is running out.

But I tell you, as someone who believes in the strength of the Ukrainian spirit: the bread stolen in February 1922 marked the beginning of the end for their first empire. The grain stolen from February 2022 to today will be the final judgment for their current regime.

We stand. We count every kernel. And in this February of 2026, I believe as never before: we will return to Skadovsk, to Henichesk, to Melitopol. We will sow these steppes again with free grain. Because the Ukrainian sun shines only for those who love this land, not for those who plunder it.

Hold fast, my dear ones. We are a nation of farmers; we are masters of our skies and our fields. And truth always triumphs over the invader.

Glory to Ukraine!