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In Odessa, hundreds of people arrived at the monument to the Unknown Sailor. Photo “Countries”
Today, Ukraine celebrated the 75th anniversary of the victory over Germany in World War II.
This victory was won by the USSR together with the Anglo-American allies. But the main mass of losses and victories falls on the Red Army, in which around 7 million inhabitants of the Ukrainian SSR fought. That is, modern Ukraine.
You rarely find a family in our country that war does not touch. Thus, on May 9, Ukrainians always celebrated as a big party, despite attempts by the authorities in the past 6 years to level its importance.
In addition, this year neither quarantine nor calls from officials to stay home impeded the tradition.
“Country” discovered how Ukraine celebrated the anniversary of Victory.
As the authorities pointed out
In the morning, many representatives of the authorities visited Glory Park in the capital, where they placed flowers in the eternal flame. Part of the leadership of the Rada and the committees came there, led by speaker Dmitry Razumkov.
Earlier, the President published a photo of the Eternal Flame in Kiev.
Of the parliamentary factions as a separate group, only the Opposition Platform for Life arrived in the wake of the Unknown Soldier. Its deputies announced the creation of the “National Front” movement, which will fight to preserve historical memory.
But the “Servant of the People” party on its official telegram channel issued a rather strange statement that today is truly a “day of sadness.”
“For Ukraine, as for most civilized countries, Victory over Nazism Day is a day of remembrance and sadness. This is not a triumph of the victors over the vanquished, but the date when we need to remember the feat of our ancestors, to honor all those who fought against the Nazi regime. ” – He said in the telegram channel of the political force.
No less significant was the video direction of Vladimir Zelensky, who recorded in the transcarpathian region. The president listed the Ukrainians who fought against Nazism.
It is true that among them was for some reason a member of the OUN, Elena Teliga, who collaborated with the Nazis during the occupation and worked for the collaborative newspaper Volyn. The Germans executed her in Kiev, among other Ukrainian nationalists, who seemed too autonomous. But the personality of the poet is clearly not one of those who can enter into a fight with the Nazis.
It is also noteworthy that in all of Zelensky’s speech, not a word about the Red Army, which made a decisive contribution to Victory. As if the Ukrainians defeated the Nazis and their allies on their own. But the United States Army is mentioned.
The president vaguely reports that the Ukrainians fought “in the anti-Hitler coalition.” Note that it included specific states, not people based on nationality. The vast majority of Ukrainians served precisely in the Red Army of the USSR.
At the same time, it is generally not clear from Zelensky’s words who, for example, was Maria Shcherbachenko, who brought 112 wounded from the field of pain. And he carried them out during the battles for Kiev, fighting in the Red Army.
Or the sniper Vasily Kurka mentioned by the president. Zelensky did not say that this 16-year-old Komsomol member Vinnitsa was not subject to military recruitment by age, but instead offered to join the Red Army.
Additionally, Zelensky appointed all those who fought in the US Army. USA Much more specifically. “This is Nicholas Oreshko. Cavalier Medals of Honor and the Purple Heart: America’s highest military award. He was personally presented by President Harry Truman at the White House,” the president described in detail.
In comparison, much more succinctly it is said about the Ukrainian Berest: “A native of the Sumy region, Aleksey Berest, placing the flag of the USSR over the Reichstag.”
However, in Ze’s words, it is still clear that many veteran Ukrainians are Soviet soldiers: the president mentions his titles as heroes of the USSR. For example, the pilots of Ivan Kozhedub and Ahmet Khan-Sultan. Regarding the latter, the President did not forget to clarify that he was fighting against the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, by launching a fork in the direction of the Soviet Union.
Overall, this part of the appeal was corrected by the personality of the President and is a great gunship. At the end of the speech, Ze proposed establishing memory bells in four parts of Ukraine: in the Lugansk region, Transcarpathia, as well as in Donetsk and Simferopol.
“And the moment peace will come in Ukraine and we will restore our people and our land, four bells will simultaneously notify about this historic event in the history of Ukraine,” concluded the president.
Zelensky’s statement contrasts sharply with the same direction as the President of Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko spoke a lot about his country. But he emphasized several times that the victory was won by joint efforts.
“We admire the feat of Russians and Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews, Georgians and Armenians, Lithuanians and Estonians,” said Lukashenko. Nor did he hesitate to say that it was the Soviet soldiers who defeated the Nazis.
But let’s go back to the Ukrainian authorities. Interestingly, the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, left no mark at all on Victory Day. There are no congratulations on the site or on social media.
Although even former Prime Minister Groysman and many ministers came to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier last year.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared separate comments for the holiday. He wrote a Facebook post about how Soviet propaganda “stole” from Ukrainians the feat of hoisting the banner over the Reichstag.
What relationship the Ministry of Foreign Relations has with this historical issue is not entirely clear. But it turned out how it happened: On the day of victory over Nazi Germany, the Kiev official criticized the USSR.
And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, instead of congratulating the Ukrainians on Victory Day, congratulated the European Union on the anniversary of the “Schuman Declaration”, which marked the beginning of post-war unification of Europe.
The Defense Ministry did not mention Victory Day today either. Instead, it will post a memory clip for those who died in the OOS zone.
As people notice
The main thing that happened today: the Ukrainians took to the streets and went to put flowers, despite the quarantine.
This happened in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov and the Dnieper.
In the capital and other cities, the police blocked approaches to the Eternal Flame. In Kiev, it was reinforced by members of the far-right Municipal Guard, who often engaged in skirmishes with people who came to lay flowers.
The “Guard” tried not to allow Communist leader Petro Symonenko to enter Gloria Park and also cursed the people who were forced to queue. The fact is that flower placement was constantly interrupted by disinfection. So I had to queue for the Eternal Flame for half an hour or more.
The same story happened on May 2 in Odessa, when the police constantly blocked access to the Kulikovo camp. It seems like endless disinfection is done specifically to discourage coming here.
This is how it looked today in Kiev:
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Disinfection in Kiev. Photo “Countries”
How was Victory Day in Kiev? You can watch the video “Countries”.
In Odessa, Victory Day was celebrated on a massive scale. Thousands of people flock to the monument to the unknown sailor.
The police are on duty there, but people are allowed to meet more closely than in Kiev.
Some Odessa residents figured out how to creatively sidestep the law that prohibits the St. George tape.
Nationalists who came with portraits of Bandera and Shukhevych, as well as other members of the OUN-UPA tried to spoil the festival. But they left when the axis of the Victoria supporters emerged.
Another way to celebrate is Victory Race.
In Kiev, it was organized by Oppoplatform for Life. His aides rode from Glory Park to Victory Square and sang the song “Victory Day”.
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The meeting took place in Odessa and Kharkov. In the first capital, they rode stylized cars and motorcycles during World War II. And in Odessa there were several rallies. In one of them, they drove ordinary cars, where prohibited Soviet symbols were replaced by city flags.
And in another there were red flags with the inscription “May 9. Thank you grandfather for the victory.” Due to these flags, the demonstration had problems with the nationalists.
As the organizer of this demonstration, “Oppoplatforms” people’s deputy Nikolai Skorik said that the radicals and the police blocked the way for the cars.
“However, the demonstration did take place. The opposition drove through the streets of Odessa in honor of those who returned to the city with Victoria 75 years ago,” Skorik wrote on Facebook.
At the Dnieper, the celebration was held in a similar way to Kiev: a memorial site was surrounded by a fence.
The Dnieper Photo “Vіdkritiy”
In Zaporozhye, the organization of the Victory Regiment, an analogue of the Russian Immortal Regiment, also held a motorized rally. However, the nationalists attacked cars and took away Soviet symbols.
Around 30 cars with red flags participated in the rally. The caravan drove down the central avenue of Zaporozhye, stopping near the Battle Glory Alley, where there were people with the Ukrainian flags.
After the nationalists tore down the red flags, a verbal skirmish ensued. Some shouted “Glory to the victorious people!” and “Thanks to Grandpa for the Victory”, and the second – “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Putin-h..lo”.
The party continues, and people will bring flowers to the memorials to the fallen soldiers until nightfall. But it is already possible to draw definitive conclusions.
Conclusions
The Ukrainians went en masse to put flowers on the day of victory, despite the quarantine. People gathered at the Eternal Flame in Kiev and other cities even more than at Easter. Although the authorities tried to make the path to fame as difficult as possible.
The days of victory in recent years have generally acquired a very serious scope. People turn to them against the state’s forgetfulness policy of Victory and try to impose a cult of reconciliation.
It is clear that these categories contradict each other. With whom and why do you need to reconcile on the day of victory over Nazism? It turns out that only with the Nazis.
Although, of course, the government has in mind the reconciliation of Red Army veterans with the OUN and the UPA, who served or were loyal to the Nazis. How popular this idea is can be judged from yesterday. On May 8, when officials celebrated Remembrance and Reconciliation Day, people were sitting at their home.
In the context of the magnitude of the national holiday on May 9, the position of the country’s leaders seems extremely listless.
Speaker Dmitry Razumkov and President Vladimir Zelensky spoke more or less extensively. But his speech rather allowed the mist to enter the exploits of that war. And he tried to touch up as much as possible exactly who defeated Nazism. Although even the British embassy in Ukraine announced yesterday that the peoples of the USSR had endured the brunt of the war.
A very characteristic case, from the point of view of the authorities’ position on the holiday, occurred with the Attorney General Venediktova. She first posted congratulations to Ukrainians on Victory Day on her social media page, attaching a link to the song of the same name performed by Leshchenko, and after being harassed by nationalists, Leshchenko deleted the song and apologized (can read more about this case here).
In general, most authorities were silent on the holiday. And only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote another anti-Soviet work on Facebook.
That is, power, as with Poroshenko, celebrates one thing and people another.
