“We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II. Where more than 8 million Ukrainians died. And every fifth Ukrainian didn't return home. In total, the war claimed at least 50 million lives," Zelenskyy said. “We don't say we can repeat.'"
Zelenskyy stressed that “soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine." “And someone will not have even one left. We won then, we will win now, too,'' he said, in reference to Russia's war against Ukraine.
The Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany has traditionally been a holiday of national pride in the countries of the former Soviet Union, which with up to 27 million people killed, suffered the highest toll of any nation in World War II.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power, the holiday has taken on increasingly militaristic overtones, with a bombastic military parade through Moscow's Red Square in showing off its latest military hardware.
But this year, to shore up Western support and distance the country from Soviet-era rituals, Ukraine is drawing parallels between the horrors brought on Europe by the Nazis and Russia's invasion.
Since 2015, remembrance events are held not only on May 9 as in Soviet times, but also on May 8 dubbed "Day of Memory and Reconciliation," mirroring European traditions.
