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!