Ukrainian Volunteer Day Wishes

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Ukrainian Volunteer Day is marked every year on 14 March. On this day in 2014, about 500 members of the Maidan Self-Defence left for a training base in Novi Petrivtsi, which became the start of the first volunteer battalion. Parliament established the commemorative date in 2017. In 2014–2015 almost 40 volunteer battalions defended Ukraine, and in February 2022 thousands of people joined the army without waiting for call-up papers. Below are short and formal Volunteer Day wishes, words for family and comrades, thanks, poems and ways to support the defenders. Wishes for other holidays of the year are in our holiday wishes calendar.

More for defenders: Defenders Day wishes, National Guard Day wishes, Day of Dignity and Freedom wishes.

Short Volunteer Day wishes

• Happy Ukrainian Volunteer Day! Thank you for being the first to defend us.
• We honour those who went to defend the country at the call of their hearts. Come home alive!
• Happy Volunteer Day! Strength, health and faith in victory.
• Your choice is an example for us all. We thank you and are proud of you!

From family to a volunteer

• Son, you chose to go and defend us yourself, and we are proud of you every day. Take care; we are waiting.
• My love, your courage changed our lives. I thank you and pray you come home soon.

For fellow volunteers

• Brothers, we have gone from volunteer battalions to brigades. Happy holiday, and let us hold together!
• We remember those who went first and did not return. Eternal glory to them.

Formal wishes

• Dear volunteers, please accept our sincere congratulations on Ukrainian Volunteer Day. In the hardest of times you did not hesitate to defend Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
• We wish you good health, strength of spirit, the support of your loved ones and a swift victory.

Words of thanks

• Thank you for every day of freedom you have given us. We will always remember your choice in 2014 and 2022.
• Eternal memory to the volunteers who gave their lives for Ukraine.

Volunteer Day poems

You did not wait for any call,
You did not ask for praise or fame;
You stood up first to guard us all,
And Ukraine will remember your name.

May God protect you in every fight,
May angels shield you night and day;
We thank you for our freedom and right;
Come home to us safe, we pray!

How to support the volunteers

The best support is a donation to a unit, help for defenders' families and veterans, and attention to those who have returned. Flowers suit volunteer veterans and families of the fallen: restrained white roses or blue hydrangeas as a sign of memory and gratitude.

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See thank-you flowers and hydrangea bouquets.

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FAQ

When is Ukrainian Volunteer Day?

Every year on 14 March.

Why 14 March?

On this day in 2014 Maidan Self-Defence fighters left for Novi Petrivtsi, where the first volunteer battalion began to form.

When was the date established?

Parliament adopted the decision in 2017.

Volunteers have always stood beside the defenders; they are celebrated on 5 December: International Volunteer Day messages.

Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.

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