Ukraine marks 31 years of independence, 6 months of war, and spirit of defiance

After six months of war, Ukraine has suffered the destruction of many of its cities, some 9,000 combat deaths, 13,000 civilians killed or wounded, with millions more driven from their homes, and yet the country and its leader remain defiant in the face of the brutal, grinding war of attrition waged by its numerically superior neighbor.

“It doesn't matter to us what kind of army you have, what matters to us is our land. We will fight for it until the end,” vowed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a defiant speech marking 31 years of independence. “What is the end of the war for us? We used to say: ‘peace.’ Now we say: ‘victory.’”

Zelensky, who in the early weeks of the war urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to sit down with him, is now emboldened by Ukraine's surprising battlefield success and the so-far unwavering support of more than 50 Western countries.