On the 77th anniversary of the expulsion of Nazi invaders from Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in honoring the memory of warriors who gave their lives for the liberation of their homeland during World War II.
The Head of State laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Park of Eternal Glory in Kyiv. The warriors of honor guard laid a wreath near the Eternal Flame.
"The years of Nazi occupation of Ukraine are a terrible, dark period in our history. Its consequences were more than 700 destroyed cities and towns, almost 30 thousand Ukrainian villages. Hundreds of villages were burned with the inhabitants. Thousands of destroyed hospitals and schools. The Holocaust. Babyn Yar in Kyiv, Janowska Concentration Camp in Lviv, Drobytsky Yar in Kharkiv, Bohdanivka in the Mykolaiv region… Millions of victims. Millions of Ostarbeiters. Millions of crippled destinies. And these are the millions of reasons why we, Ukrainians, will always remember the soldiers who died in that terrible war, and why we bow our heads to our compatriots who with their heroism made an invaluable contribution to peace, became an example for a new generation of Ukrainian defenders who are defending Ukraine in the east," the President said.
The commemoration ceremony was also attended by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk.