On the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Kyiv from the Nazi invaders, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid flowers in the memorial hall of the Monument - Museum of the Liberation of Kyiv, located on the territory of the National Museum-Reserve "Battle for Kyiv in 1943" in the village of Novi Petrivtsi, Kyiv region.
The ceremony was also attended by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov.
The attendees honored the memory of the fallen liberators of Kyiv with a moment of silence.
"The liberation of Kyiv is a story of boundless indifference and cruelty of the “great” leaders and the boundless feat of the great fighters who liberated the city from the Nazis," the President said.
The Head of State noted that, according to official data, the losses in the battle for the Dnieper reached 417 thousand dead. Up to 240 thousand soldiers and officers died in the battles for Kyiv. But according to a number of historians, the total death toll is at least twice as high, as those mobilized through field military enlistment offices were often not registered, so as not to worsen death toll statistics.
"Even not dressed in uniform and extremely poorly armed, hundreds of thousands of our ancestors were thrown into the battle for the liberation of Kyiv. To certain death. We will never forget the price at which the capital of Ukraine was liberated from the Nazi occupiers on November 6, 1943," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
"Eternal memory and glory to all those who liberated Kyiv from Nazi invaders," he added.
