Address by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman on the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation and Day of Victory over Nazism in the World War II

Fellow compatriots!

Today, we recall all fighters against Nazi regime thanks to whom the anti-Hitler coalition in the Second World War achieved victory. The contribution of the Ukrainian people to that victory was enormous. The Ukrainian army along with other nations armies liberated Europe and the world from anti-human ideology that destroyed everything around, justifying it with ideas of racial superiority.

Ukraine incurred the largest number of casualties during WW II among the countries that suffered from Nazism. Historians still do not have an unanimous opinion on the real number of victims, however at least 5  million Ukrainians had lost their lives and even more people had been deported, repressed, evacuated, killed by the famine and the cold of our compatriots. Every fifth Ukrainian had died – fascism left heinous impact almost on all Ukrainian families.

However, despite the scale of the Nazi invasion, the Ukrainian people managed to remain standing in the struggle for the right to exist. Having exerted incredible efforts together with other participants of the anti-Hitler coalition, we managed not only to liberate our own land from occupation, but also to liberate all humanity from Nazism. This feat is unprecedented in all world history.

On this day, we bow our heads in tribute to the memory of all who have approached the victory over Nazism and the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazi occupation. We deeply regret every death at the fronts of the Second World War and every victim killed by Nazi regime. Their memory is embalmed in our hearts and will serve as a guarantee that this will never happen again in world history.

1939-1945.

We remember.

Prime Minister of Ukraine                                                         Volodymyr GROYSMAN