Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has said that the raising of red flags during the Victory Day celebrations will be used to make claims about the allegedly minor contribution of Ukrainians to victory in the Second World War.
"The adoption of this law is a definite continuation of the recent rhetoric that Ukrainians were allegedly not participants in the Victory of 1945, that it was another country that won, and that this could have been done without Ukrainians… This once again underlines the thesis that Ukraine has nothing to do with this great victory," Tymoshenko said at a press conference in Sumy on Friday, according to her personal Web site.
She said that she did not support the law on the compulsory raising on May 9 of red flags or replicas of the banner of victory. However, she said that during the war of 1941-1945, the flag was a symbol of the unification of the whole nation in their fight against the enemy.
"Today it’s a means of separation, a means of contention, and a means of distracting public attention from the problems that are now being artificially created in their lives – social issues, problems with employment, running a business, education, and medical treatment," she said.
Tymoshenko said that these actions "do not promote patriotism among the younger generation … but insult veterans, combatants, war children, and insult our national dignity"
