Televisions across Crimea were hacked by Ukraine to display a message mocking Putin, with residents also hearing Zelensky vowing to defeat Russia by driving the nation out of the occupied the Black Sea peninsula.
Screens also showed multiple messages declaring: 'Putin is a d**khead.'
Viewers also saw a message vowing to return Crimea to Ukraine from the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Lieutenant general Kyrylo Budanov, 37, whose wife Marianna was this week revealed to have been poisoned with arsenic and mercury in a suspected Russian sting.
In the hack, viewers saw Zelensky say: 'I would like to separately say to all our people in Crimea, in Sevastopol, in all the occupied regions of the south and east of our state, currently occupied regions.
'Dear Ukrainians, you all feel that the Russian presence on our land will not last forever. I know this.
A screen in Crimea displaying the programming on that day that it was hacked. The hack of digital TV services was admitted by Oleg Kryuchkov, an official in the Putin-appointed regime which runs the government in the peninsula
'Ukraine will return its territory, our people. We will not leave anyone to the occupiers.'
Budanov - like Zelensky speaking in Ukrainian - said: 'Crimea will be returned. Crimea is ours.
'There should be no Russia. It's ours and no-one else's.'
The hack of digital TV services was admitted by Oleg Kryuchkov, an official in the Putin-appointed regime which runs the government in the peninsula.
'Several Crimean Internet providers have been hacked by the enemy,' he said.
'Technical services are working on this.
'All problems will be resolved in the near future.'
Viewers also saw a message vowing to return Crimea to Ukraine from the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, 37, whose wife Marianna was this week revealed to have been poisoned.
Zelensky said: 'Dear Ukrainians, you all feel that the Russian presence on our land will not last forever. I know this'
A screen showing the programming for that day that was briefly interrupted by the hack
Zelensky added: 'We will not leave anyone to the occupiers'
Zelensky also said: 'Ukraine will return its territory, our people'
He blamed the Centre for Information and Psychological Special Operations in Kyiv for the hack.
A separate hack hit the Putin-appointed administration of Donetsk, another annexed region.
This told residents that the 16-year-old son of Ramzan Kadyrov had been made an honorary citizen of Donetsk.
He had 'made a significant personal contribution to the development of cultural relations between the cities of Donetsk and Grozny,' said the fictitious announcement.