Zelenskiy celebrates the 1945 Nazi capitulation, bringing Ukraine closer to Europe. On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukraine will observe a day of commemoration on May 8, when Western nations celebrate Europe’s victory.
Zelenskiy told the people from a hill overlooking Kyiv that “the old evil” had returned, this time perpetrated by a “modern Russia” seeking “enslavement and destruction” like the Nazis, but they would fail.
Zelenskiy said he had presented a bill to parliament to make May 8 a day of recollection and victory. May 9—Russia’s victory day—would become Europe Day, further solidifying Ukraine’s separation from its Soviet heritage.
We’re restoring our state’s past without ideology. “Most nations remember the greatness of the victory over the Nazis on May 8,” he stated in a video on the president’s Telegram channel.
“Today, I signed the relevant decree, and every year from tomorrow, May 9, we will commemorate our historic unity – the unity of all Europeans who destroyed Nazism and will defeat rashism,” he declared, using a Ukrainian term for Russian fascism.
“The unity that brings peace closer.”
May 9 is Russia’s most important national holiday, commemorating the Soviet Union’s huge sacrifices in defeating Nazi Germany. The conflict had a terrible toll on Soviet Russia and Ukraine.
Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, Moscow time. Russians name it the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.
Moscow has increased strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities before May 9, and some observers suggest Vladimir Putin wants to win the war before the holiday.
Zelenskiy said Europe must battle “evil” again “to ensure that no one ever enslaves other peoples or destroys other countries again.”
“We do not yet know the date of our victory, but we know it will be a holiday for Ukraine, Europe, and the free world.”
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