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The Ukrainian leader held talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and was set to meet with President Trump’s envoy, Keith Kellogg, amid continuing diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Aug. 24, 2025, 6:58 a.m. ET
Amid continuing diplomatic efforts to end the long war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday marked the country’s Independence Day with a speech in Kyiv’s central square, reminding Ukrainians that they are still fighting for freedom.
He later met with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, who arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in a show of diplomatic support. President Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, also arrived in Kyiv over the weekend for talks with Mr. Zelensky. Both Mr. Carney and Mr. Kellogg attended the Independence Day celebrations.
The Ukrainian leader made his speech in the square known as the Maidan, a place of great symbolic importance to Ukrainians and the site of enormous protests in 2013 that culminated in the ouster of the country’s pro-Russian president Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Mr. Zelensky expressed hope that in the future “on this square, on the Maidan of our independence, under our own flags, on our own land, our children and grandchildren will celebrate Independence Day — in peace.”
The holiday marks the day in 1991 when Ukraine’s Parliament voted to reject Soviet rule. In a referendum later that year, 92 percent of Ukrainians voted for independence, including a majority of voters in the regions in the east that Russia now claims to have annexed.
This month, Mr. Trump met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Alaska for talks on a peace settlement for Ukraine that hinge on Russian demands that Kyiv retreat from territory it now controls in parts of the country’s east.
