In most Western countries, including Canada, the celebration known as flag day is greeted with a kind of benevolent, restrained enthusiasm.

Rarely is it ever a visceral event, the way it has become in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought that sentiment into sharp focus on Saturday, a day before Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Kyiv as a special guest for Independence Day celebrations and pledged Canada's ongoing support of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy noted that up to 20 per cent of his country remains under Russian occupation 3½ years into a full-scale war that sees little bits of Ukraine disappear each day.

"This flag is a goal and dream for many Ukrainians on temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. "They keep the flag. They keep it because they know tha

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