Whole world waits for Ukraine to defeat Russia, Zelenskyy says

During a meeting with Ukrainian service members, Zelenskyy noted that everyone can now see that Ukraine has seized the initiative from Russia and is pushing the war back to where it came from.

He stressed that this is difficult, but necessary so that Russians feel the consequences of what they are doing and understand that an aggressive war always has repercussions.

The president also added that Ukraine, with significantly fewer means and resources, has achieved more tangible results and that by defending what is theirs, Ukrainians are respected by the world, which also awaits this victory.

"With fewer means and fewer resources, Ukrainians have achieved more tangible and proud results, and most importantly, they can completely be proud of themselves, rightly so, because they are defending what is theirs. The whole world respects them for this. And every pure heart in the world is waiting for only one thing from Ukraine—that we will defeat this Russian bastard. And this will happen," Zelenskyy said.

We will defeat this #Russian bastard: #Zelenskyy's strong message during his meeting with #Ukrainian #military pic.twitter.com/27rEFsKzDN

— RBC-Ukraine (@NewsUkraineRBC) July 4, 2026

What else Zelenskyy said

Notable that during the same speech, the President of Ukraine said that Russia has lost the Black Sea. He emphasized that the liberation of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island and successful Ukrainian operations in Crimea demonstrate that the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov will not become areas of comfort for Russia.

Also, during the meeting with service members, a chart of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was seen in one of the frames, showing how many Russian vessels have been destroyed by Ukraine.

In addition, in June, Zelenskyy said that more than half of Russian citizens want the war against Ukraine to end. He stressed that Russians can see that Russia is not winning on the battlefield.