On May 8th, Ukraine commemorates the 80th anniversary of Victory over Nazism in Europe, a pivotal moment that ended one of the darkest chapters in human history.
This anniversary holds exceptional significance for Ukraine, a nation whose people endured unprecedented and immense losses. Ukrainian lands became a primary battlefield, where Ukrainians wrote brilliant pages of sacrifice, heroism, and resistance, while simultaneously suffering from mass repressions.
During the war years, Ukraine sustained horrific human losses that surpassed the combined losses of Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and France.
Estimates of the number of Ukrainians who perished range from 8 to 10 million, exceeding one-fifth of the country's population before the war began. Among them were approximately 3–4 million soldiers, resistance fighters, and partisans who died in battles, or fell victim to captivity or repression, in addition to about 4–5 million civilians who were shot, starved to death, killed by bombing, forcibly deported, or became victims of other forms of terror.
In 1941, Ukraine's population was 41.7 million. By 1945, it had plummeted to 27.4 million. The state required a quarter of a century to recover from this colossal demographic earthquake.
Ukrainians made a significant contribution to the victory over Nazism and were rightfully considered among the victorious nations. This was internationally recognized by granting the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic a founding membership in the United Nations, as a tribute to the sacrifices of Ukrainians and their active contribution to the common victory.
It is worth metioning that the war effectively began for Ukrainians on September 1, 1939, when approximately 112,000 Ukrainian citizens, mostly from Galicia and Volhynia, then part of Poland, joined the ranks of the Polish Army to confront the German Wehrmacht. During the September Campaign, about 8,000 Ukrainians were killed, and another 16,000 were wounded. After the fall of Warsaw, many Ukrainians continued to fight in Polish units, both under Soviet and British command.
Ukrainians constituted one of the largest nationalities within the Red Army. In 1944, one-third of the Soviet forces were of Ukrainian origin, and in the infantry formations within the four Ukrainian Fronts that liberated Eastern Europe and contributed to the assault on Berlin, their proportion ranged from 60 to 80%. Ukraine also provided the Soviet Army with seven front and army commanders, 200 generals, and more than six million soldiers.
Furthermore, over 130,000 Ukrainians fought in the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition, including about 80,000 in the US Army, 45,000 in the armies of the British Empire and Canada, and 6,000 in the French Army. They participated in the battles of North Africa, the Normandy landings, and the Battle of Monte Cassino.
In North Africa, Ukrainians fought within the British, Canadian, and American armies, particularly in the battles of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. In the Battle of El Alamein, which raged between October and November 1942 on Egyptian territory, Ukrainians fought within the ranks of the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery. This battle was a crucial turning point that halted the advance of the Axis forces led by German General Erwin Rommel.
The Ukrainian contribution to the defeat of Nazism is clear, profound, and undeniable. Therefore, the current Russian Federation's attempts to monopolize the memory of victory provoke the anger and indignation of Ukrainian society. We categorically reject the historical manipulations practiced by the Kremlin, its efforts to marginalize the Ukrainian role and the role of other peoples, to steal the title of the "sole victor," and to transform the tragedy of nations into an ideological cult serving authoritarian agendas.
No state has the right to claim a monopoly on the honor of victory over Nazism, as it was a common victory for dozens of countries and hundreds of peoples. It is morally unacceptable to use this legacy to justify new crimes, as Russia is doing today, by attempting to legitimize its aggression against Ukraine and other countries through the instrumentalization of the symbolism of World War II as a tool for expansion and domination.
It is worth recalling that World War II began with an alliance between two totalitarian regimes: the Nazi Third Reich and the communist Soviet Union, which divided Europe and staged a joint military parade in the city of Brest on September 22, 1939, in celebration of this alliance. Although 1945 brought the long-awaited peace, it did not bring freedom to many European nations. Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and others fell under the yoke of Soviet occupation, replacing one totalitarianism with another.
Today, more than three decades after Ukraine's internationally recognized independence, the country is subjected to a brutal, unprovoked war waged by Russia against a people who were among the victors over Nazism and paid a heavy price for Europe's freedom and peace. During this war, Russian forces have committed hundreds of thousands of war crimes: mass executions, mass graves, rape, looting, hostage-taking of civilians, torture, executions of prisoners of war, shelling of residential areas, and targeting of civilian infrastructure. All this is done by an army that parades its strength on May 9th in Red Square in Moscow. These are not liberators of Europe, but occupiers and war criminals. Those who march alongside them today share responsibility for the blood of Ukrainian children, civilians, and soldiers who have fallen victim.
Today, decades after the fall of Nazism and communism, the world faces a new threat in "Rashism", a Russian blend of fascism and Nazism, fueled by totalitarianism, imperialism, militarism, and hatred of others. This ideology is based on the appropriation of the legacy of victory and its transformation into a ritualistic worship of war.
Moscow's claims of "protecting Russian speakers" in neighboring countries are reminiscent of Nazi calls for "Lebensraum." For the Kremlin, Russia's borders are where its language is spoken, meaning it has no borders.
The resistance of Ukrainians today is not only a defense of their independence and sovereignty but a battle for all of Europe, for a just international order, and for security and freedom for all.
Russian aggression does not only target Ukraine but includes the occupation of Georgian territories, the subjugation of Belarus, the destabilization of Armenia and Moldova, and direct threats to Kazakhstan, the Baltic states, and Poland. Internally, Russia pursues systematic policies of repression against the peoples of the North Caucasus, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and others, in a comprehensive Russification process.
Ukraine is paying a heavy price so that this world may have a chance for true peace. A new security architecture will only be built by defeating "Rashism," through the complete liberation of Ukrainian territories, holding Russia accountable for its crimes, and ensuring that aggression is never repeated.
To enshrine its own narrative, contemporary Russia refuses to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Victims of the War on May 8th, and instead celebrates on May 9th as part of state propaganda.
The rest of the world, however, has chosen May 9th as Europe Day, a symbol of peace, equality, democracy, and the voluntary unity of peoples. This is the civilizational choice Ukraine has made by striving to join the European family, based on the values of freedom, dignity, and human rights.
We do not forget any of the veterans who faced the hell of World War II, those who defended their homes, those who fought in the Allied armies, and those who dreamed of freedom without knowing if it would ever be realized.
Today, their sacrifices are embodied anew in our contemporary struggle against a new evil. The memory of the victims of Nazism and communism compels us to a living and active resistance: not to be content with slogans, but to confront; not to remain silent, but to speak the truth; not to remain indifferent, but to choose freedom for Ukraine, for Europe, and for the entire world.
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