To the 70th anniversary of the expulsion of the Nazi occupation
27 October 2014 11:03
On October 28, 2014 Ukraine celebrates the 70th anniversary of the expulsion of the Nazi occupation.
70 years ago the territory of Ukraine was completely liberated from Nazis invaders.
In March 1939, 6 months before the beginning of the Second World War, Ukraine was one of the first to feel the breath of bloody tragedy. Heroic defenders of the Carpathian Ukraine entered an unequal battle with occupational troops. Since then, during 6 long and extremely difficult years, Ukraine has been the game arena of two totalitarian regimes and the place of increasingly tough and large-scale hostilities.
On the land of Ukraine the future of the world was being determined. In the midst of global confrontation the belligerents held almost half of all strategic defensive and offensive operations. More than 60% of Wehrmacht land troops were destroyed in Ukraine. More than 9 million Ukrainians fought with the enemy in the ranks of the Red Army. Several million Ukrainians fought with the Nazis and their allies in the ranks of the UIA, in guerrilla units, in the Polish, American, Australian, British, Canadian armies, in the units of French, Yugoslav and Slovak resistance.
Contribution of Ukrainians to the liberation of European people from Nazism and common victory in the Second World War is undeniable. Even not being an independent state, Ukraine de-facto turned out an important member of Anti-Hitler coalition and deservedly became a co-founder of the UN.
To overcome Nazism, our people paid an incredibly high price – millions of dead, wounded and unborn. According to different estimations, form 8 to 9 million Ukrainians died in battles, occupation, concentration camps, ghettos and prisons abroad. Dozens of thousands of Ukrainian cities and villages were turned into ruins. Quarter of residents lost their homes.
The borders of Ukraine have been inviolable for 70 years until the war has returned again. This time it came not from the West, but from the East.
For the first time in 70 years, citizens of Ukraine again stood up to defend their country, its freedom and territorial integrity.
Ukraine hopes that the memory of the millions who died in World War II and the thousands of victims of the current aggressive policy of the Russia will force the aggressor to take real steps that would facilitate the removal of troops from the occupied territories, the cessation of fire, the settlement of the situation in the Donbass and Crimea on the basis of respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
