Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued his resilient outlook while addressing the country on Saturday, stating that Ukraine has already begun to focus on rebuilding “de-occupied” regions in an attempt to start over and resume the pre-war life it had to leave behind.

Assuring citizens, Zelensky said that 69% of settlements that no longer fall under the control of Russian forces have now established a “full-fledged local self-government” again.

“We are doing everything to return normal life to the de-occupied part of our Ukraine,” he said while adding that humanitarian offices have started their work in 93% of the unoccupied settlements.

“We are actively demining the liberated territory. Every day several dozen settlements are added to the list of those where demining has been completed,” he said.

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Ukrainian officials are “doing everything” in order to recover and restore access to important roads and services, according to Zelensky.

The restoration will also focus on reconstructing the runway of the Odesa international airport which was targeted by Russian airstrikes.

“Today the occupiers again fired missiles at the Dnipropetrovsk region and Odesa,” Zelensky said.

“Again and again, Russian troops prove that the people of Odesa are the same enemies for Russia as all other Ukrainians. The runway of the Odesa airport was destroyed. We will, of course, rebuild it. But Odesa will never forget such a Russian attitude towards it,” he added.

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Ukraine seems to have started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with reconstruction and evacuation procedures now in full motion. 

On Saturday, some of the civilians who were holed up in the Azovstal steel plant located in the port city of Mariupol were evacuated during a ceasefire that began at 11 in the morning, according to Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander in Azov Regiment. Capt. Palamar is one of the servicemen trapped in the steel plant complex.