Zelensky: As Ukraine keeps fighting for its life, Moscow hosts “parade of bile and lies”

The president’s address was posted on his website, as seen by Ukrinform.

"This difference is demonstrated by Russia every May 9. The difference between life on Independence Square and a parade of fear on Red Square. Columns of tanks, marching blocks of killers, staged crowds, half-lifeless faces that will condescendingly preside over this procession. The sect that is called "We can repeat." You did repeat. You repeated all that evil. Ukraine saw it. The whole world saw it. Tomorrow, the atrocities of the Nazis will be brought up by the organizer of mass graves in Bucha. And those who orchestrated the blockade of Mariupol will be the ones talking about the siege of Leningrad. It will be a parade of cynicism. There is just no other way to describe it. A parade of bile and lies,” Zelensky said.

Source: Official Telegram page of President Volodymyr Zelensky

He recalled that three years ago, as he was recording an Independence Day address, Russia’s destroyed military was displayed on Khreshchatyk. “And that is the only kind of parade evil can get here,” the President noted.

The Head of State emphasized that Ukraine has not forgotten that 80 years ago, dozens of nations fought against Nazism, and more than 8 million Ukrainians, unfortunately, died in that fight.

“And almost every one of our families has a photo, preserving the memory of someone of their own. A great-grandfather, grandmother, or great-grandmother, or, as in my case, a grandfather. And those of us who still knew living veterans of World War II remember how quietly and modestly they gathered, recalling that time without romance or pomp, how they always used to toast: ‘May there be no war!’ And today, nearly every Ukrainian family has a hero who fought or is fighting against the new evil. Fighting for our Ukraine, our Kyiv, for all our cities and villages, for our people, for our life,” the President said.

Zelensky summed up that 80 years ago, victory over Nazism was achieved in World War 2: “And this day reminds us of an important pattern: every evil inevitably comes to an end. Every occupier eventually leaves our land. Life always returns. And this is what we are standing for today. This is what will happen one day.”

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Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, in a post on Telegram on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation and the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism, stated that the date is not a triumph of the victors, but a warning that war always brings pain and loss.

“Ukraine, along with the rest of the world, marks the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation and the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism. We honor all those who defended the freedom and dignity of peoples at the cost of their lives in World War 2... Remembrance Day is not a triumph of the victors, but a warning that war always brings pain and loss. It is a reminder of the price of peace, which we’ve learned not from history, but from our own experience,” the head of government said.

Shmyhal noted that the war left deep wounds in world history, but its lessons were never learned by those who today unleashed new aggression.

"Like 80 years ago, Ukraine is once again fighting the invaders. The Russians, like the Nazis, are committing terrible crimes on our land, killing and maiming peaceful people. Russia is trying to appropriate the role of the ‘winner’, hiding behind other people's merits. But a country that destroys peaceful cities cannot be a symbol of victory – only a source of evil," the Prime Minister emphasized.

He emphasized that today, Ukraine continues to fight for its independence, protecting not only itself, but also the entire civilized world from a new threat.

"We courageously defend our values, freedom, sovereignty, human dignity and the right to live in peace without fear of the aggressor. We remember those who laid down their lives in the past, and we honor the heroes who are now standing in defense of Ukraine," said Shmyhal.

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Ukrainians have made one of the greatest contributions to the victory over Nazism 80 years ago, but now evil has returned under the banner of Russian imperial ideology. This was stated by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in his address.

"Eighty years ago, Ukrainians made one of the greatest contributions to the victory over Nazism. We paid for this victory with millions of lives. In almost every Ukrainian family there’s memory of that pain and that struggle. But now evil has returned in a new guise – under the banner of Russian imperial ideology. We again see destroyed cities, nightly attacks on residential buildings, daily killings of civilians. Torture of our prisoners of war and civilians, abduction of Ukrainian children, mass burials under occupation – these are all faces of Russian fascism, which the world has no right to ignore,” Umerov emphasized.

According to the defense chief, today Ukrainian soldiers are a force that restrains Russian evil. It is Ukrainian defenders who are now defining the security architecture of the whole of Europe and are fighting not only for Ukraine, but for freedom, justice, and a world without dictatorships.

“Eighty years ago we already fought a similar evil, and we won. Now we are fighting again. And we will win, again. That’s because Ukraine is not alone. By our side stand other states, peoples born free and ready to defend freedom,” Umerov emphasized.

The minister thanked all allies for their support and called for action.

“The only correct response to fascism is action. Timely, courageous, resolute. Together we must do everything to ensure that a just peace reigns in Ukraine and Europe,” Umerov emphasized.

As reported, Ukraine today, May 8, marks the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939–1945. In 2023, the Verkhovna Rada established May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory – the only date when Ukraine celebrates the victory over Nazism and honors the memory of those who died in World War 2. May 8 will be a banking holiday once martial law is lifted in Ukraine.

Photo: President’s Office