Commemoration of the end of the World War
Zelensky: Ukraine is fighting the new evil
“Everyone who came to destroy us will eventually flee the Ukrainian land”: Volodymyr Zelenskyj (archive photo). photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Ukraine also commemorates the end of the Second World War almost 80 years ago. For President Zelensky, this is linked to the horrors of the Russian war of aggression.
“80 years ago, millions of Ukrainians fought to defeat Nazism forever,” he said in a video message recorded there. “But today Ukrainians are once again standing against the evil that has been reborn, has come back and wants to destroy us again.”
In March 2022, the Russian occupation in Jahidne locked more than 350 villagers, including 80 children, in the school basement for weeks. The case is proven not only by Ukrainian information, but also by research by international media. Zelensky said 10 people died in that captivity and another 17 were killed. For him, what happened shows what Russia is like under Vladimir Putin. “If this isn’t Nazism, then what is it?” Zelensky asked in the very emotional video.
Russia has celebrated May 9, the anniversary of Hitler’s Germany’s surrender in World War II in 1945, as a pompous holiday for years. Moscow is also trying to portray the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Putin two years ago as an alleged continuation of the fight against fascism.
Criticism of ongoing oil exports
Zelensky said the world had resolutely resisted Hitler – and not bought oil from him or attended his inauguration. He was alluding to the ongoing Russian oil exports and Putin’s oath of office in the Kremlin the day before.
The Ukrainian army freed Jahidne at the end of March 2022, Zelensky said. He sees it as a symbol that history could repeat itself, as with the victory over the Nazis: “Everyone who came to destroy us will eventually flee the Ukrainian land.”