Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
We're coming to you live from London.
I'm James Menendez.
Ceremonies have been taking place today in Ukraine to mark 34 years
since the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War.
But that historical legacy is still playing out today, of course.
The Russian leader President Putin still maintains that Ukraine is part of its sphere of influence.
His full-scale invasion of 2022 was the ultimate violent expression of that belief.
And the war continues three and a half years later,
despite President Trump's overtures to Mr Putin at the Alaska summit nine days ago.
While Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky recorded a special video address for this Independence Day,
standing in Maidan Square in the heart of the capital Kiev.
We need a just peace, a peace where our future will be decided only by us.
And the world knows this.
The world respects this.
It respects Ukraine.
It treats Ukraine as equal.
Ukraine, which can truly in one day gather and unite the leaders of the world around itself.
Ukraine, with which America and the whole world want to jointly produce drones.
Ukraine, which restored the unity of Europe and the USA and is now the foundation of this alliance.