Address of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on the occasion of the Day of commemoration and reconciliation, and of the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism in Europe
Dear Ukrainians,
Seventy
years ago the Second World War – the most horrible and cruel war in our history
– has ended. These days we are commemorating dozens of millions of its victims
and celebrate the victory of nations of the anti-Hitler alliance.
It was a
victory over a guileful aggressor who ignored the international law, ridiculed
the treaties of friendship and aspired to destroy half of the world. The enemy
ended up in a military tribunal. It is a very important lesson of the Second
World War: any aggressor who dreams of new
territories, rattles its weapons and ignores the will of nations, will
inevitably follow the fate of the Hitler regime.
The victory
became possible due to a tremendous effort of nations, to their heroic stance
and to an unprecedented amount of victims. Ukraine found itself right in the
middle of the war – the black ploughs of death plundered our land from the West
to the East, and from the East to the West. Seven million Ukrainians went to
the front, half of them never to return. Half of the survivors returned heavily
injured. Ukrainians fought against Nazism in the Red army, in the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army and in the armies of anti-Hitler alliance. In the war years the
population of Ukraine declined by 14 million.
Eternal
glory to the perished, most profound respect to the veterans. Their bravery is
immortal.
We have
suffered tremendous losses. Ukraine as a victor nation in the Second World War
will never forget the joint effort of other nations put into our joint victory
over Nazism, and will forever cherish deep respect to those who made it
possible.
An attempt
of the forgers in Kremlin to attribute the victory to only one nation and to
deny military feats of all others, is an insult to the
memory of the millions. The war of Russia against Ukraine is a historic crime.
Our
veterans who had fought for their land could never expect that 70 years after
the end of the war they will have to send their grandchildren to defend Ukraine
again. That they will have to receive military decorations
for their boys who lost their lives fighting with the Russian aggressors and
their mercenaries.
I was
impressed how the course of history combined military bravery and tragedy in
one Ukrainian family. A Second World War veteran, colonel
Ivan Zaluzhny lost his grandson, a lieutenant of the
National Guard. He had stopped the terrorists with the price of his own life.
The Eastern Europe expected that liberation
from Nazism would bring freedom
and righteousness to its nations.
Instead, it fell under the
Soviet occupation, under a totalitarian regime.
Victory
over the Nazism did not result in freedom also for our nation – our victor
nation had to go through the post-war artificial famine – the third Holodomor, and through the repressions. Thousands of
families were deported to Siberia, destroyed were the classes of intelligentsia
and farmers, memories were erased about who and for
which price had achieved the victory.
But we do
always remember it: we remember those who have caused this war and their
collaborators, we remember the plot of the two tyrants Stalin and Hitler, and
we remember millions who went through this horrible war.
We have
defended our land back in those times, and we are defending our land again
today.
We have
prevailed then, and we will be victorious again today!
Glory to
Ukraine! Glory to our heroes!