As Kyiv prepares to celebrate Independence Day during its second year at

war with Russia on Aug. 24, some have no time to take a break for the

holiday. They’re too busy fighting to make sure Ukraine stays

independent.Dnipro Battalion soldier Serhiy Shvets, 39, will spend Independence Day the same way that he did last year — at the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine in the eastern Donbas. Shvets said Ukraine’s true independence will only come with battlefield victory.

“The real Independence Day will come after our victory in the war,” Shvets told the Kyiv Post by phone, echoing an idea that President Petro Poroshenko told the U.S. Congress in March.