Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has addressed his compatriots on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Ukraine's liberation from fascist invaders.
“Seventy years ago, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers liberated Ukraine from fascist invaders… To overcome fascism, our people paid an incredibly high price – millions of dead, wounded and unborn. According to different estimates, eight to nine million Ukrainians died in battles, occupation, concentration camps, ghettos, and prisons abroad. Dozens of thousands of Ukrainian cities and villages were turned into ruins. A quarter of residents lost their homes,” the president said in an address published on his Web site.
Poroshenko said that Ukraine’s borders had 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, we again stood up to defend Ukraine, its freedom and territorial integrity,” he said.
Poroshenko, addressing the veterans, expressed sincere gratitude to each of them “for courage in battles and hard work in the post-war period, for persistence and self-sacrifice.”
He also addressed Ukrainian servicemen participating in the anti-terrorist operation: “The whole of Ukraine bows to you for your everyday feat, courage and heroism with which you defend Ukraine from militants and interventionists.”
“I strongly believe in our victory in the Patriotic War of 2014. I believe that my political and diplomatic plan will work and bring peace to Donbas and entire Ukraine,” Poroshenko said.
