The Victory Day we abandoned

The Hero City of Kyiv. Photo: open sources

Today, many countries celebrate Victory Day over Nazism – the 80th anniversary of that momentous triumph. Due to the two-hour time difference at the moment of Germany's signing of the Act of Surrender, some allies commemorate this great holiday a day earlier. But they all celebrate it. Except for Ukraine. For some reason, celebrating it here is now considered shameful; today, it is called the "Remembrance and Reconciliation Day."

And although people still celebrate it, they do so "in secret," because nowadays, it’s easy to be labeled a "separatist" or a "collaborator" for such a thing. But why?

The reason is that May 9 is widely celebrated in Russia. Moreover, it has become the foundation for a vile propaganda campaign, suggesting that Russians in Ukraine are "fighting fascism," just as their (and our) grandfathers did during the Great Patriotic War.

In response, the Ukrainian authorities took a rather strange step: "If you celebrate Victory Day – then we won’t." And this approach isn’t limited to Victory Day; it extends to many other things.

"You speak Russian? Then we won’t have it here. You are proud of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky? We will erase them from our culture. You go to Orthodox churches? We will close and ban them."

Does this strategy benefit Ukraine and Ukrainians? No, it clearly impoverishes and divides us. It so happens that we share a common history with the Russian Federation. But that history belongs to Ukrainians just as much as it does to Russians. Rejecting our achievements and heritage just to spite the enemy, to "prove a point," is, to put it mildly, a very immature and bizarre tactic. Moreover, it obviously plays right into the enemy's hands. Now everything that Ukrainian ancestors achieved can be privatized and claimed as "Russian." In Russia, they almost say it outright: “You grieve on this day, you abandoned Victory? Excellent – now it’s only ours.”

But why only "theirs"? Just recently, Trump signed a decree establishing a Victory Day. The United States also congratulated Russia on it. But not Ukraine.

Among our grandfathers, there are countless heroes whose feats made the outcome of World War II undeniable. They liberated the lands of Ukraine and Europe, they reached Berlin and crushed the Nazis. And we have every right today not to "reconcile" and "mourn," but to celebrate.

So – Happy Victory Day!

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