Editor’s Note: The following are remarks made by Kurt Volker, U.S. special representative for Ukraine, during a Sept. 22-23 commemoration in New York of Ukraine’s attempt, a century ago in 1918, to achieve national independence, an effort that failed as Soviet forces gained control of Ukraine by 1922. See the Kyiv Post coverage of the event here. Volker was appointed U.S. special representative for Ukraine in July 2017. He has tried to move forward the stalled Minsk peace process with his opposite number in the Kremlin, Vladislav Surkov. After his first visit to Ukraine last summer, Volker recommended that America provide sophisticated anti-armor Javelin missiles to the country’s military and these arrived earlier this year.

I’m assuring you that the things we stand for — freedom, democracy, the market economy, rule of law, human rights, security — we’re going to keep fighting for them no matter what.