2023-05-08 08:59:02
On the 78th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in World War II, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted a similar defeat for Russia in the war once morest his country. “And all the old evils that modern Russia is bringing back will be smashed just like Nazism was smashed,” Zelenskyy said in a speech on Monday.
“We do not yet know the date of our victory, but we do know that this will be a celebration for all of Ukraine, for all of Europe, for all of the free world,” said the Ukrainian President. At the same time, Zelenskyi presented a draft law that would officially move the commemoration of the German capitulation to May 8th. In doing so, Ukraine is distancing itself from Soviet tradition – and from war opponent Russia, where “Victory Day” is not celebrated until May 9th.
In the future, Ukraine should commemorate the victims of the Second World War together with the “free world”, said Zelenskyj. He also commemorated the eight million Ukrainians who were killed in 1939-45. At the same time he signed a decree according to which in future May 9th should be celebrated in Ukraine – as in the European Union – as Europe Day.
After the World War that Germany had started, the Wehrmacht capitulated on May 8, 1945 to the allies of the Soviet Union, the USA, Great Britain and France. Because the nightly signing of the surrender instrument fell on May 9, Moscow time, Victory Day is traditionally celebrated on this day in Russia and many other post-Soviet states.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kiev, Vitaly Kryvitsky, assumes that the effects of the war in Ukraine will “keep people in suspense for many years to come”. “We are fighting once morest the anger and hate that has come over us from outside and we are doing everything we can to prevent it from taking root in our hearts, inside,” the bishop told Vatican News, according to Kathpress. (Sunday). For him, the most important current task of the church is “not to let the people perish in the war”.
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