On November the 25th, Ukraine reverences for the memory of the victims of the Holodomor 1932-1933. This year marks the 85th anniversary of the genocide against the Ukrainian people, the Holodomor famine of 1932-33, organized by the Communist government of the former Soviet Union. Under some sources, at the height of the Holodomor, 24 people died in Ukraine every minute, 1,440 - every hour, 34,560 – every single day. Thus, 4.5 million Ukrainians were devitalized.
In Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, mourning ceremonies are being held to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor, while the Ukrainian World Congress organizes such events worldwide.
The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko together with the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko paid on Saturday a tribute to the victims of the artificial famine.
Many people have come to the National Museum "Memorial to Holodomor Victims" in Kyiv. They have been standing along the alley leading to the memorial, as well as on the hills on which the memorial building is located. People came with wheat spikes and guelder rose branches to lay them to the memorial and light candles in memory of the Holodomor victims.
Before the event began, stories about the Holodomor in Ukraine were heard from loudspeakers. "It was a planned genocide by Moscow against Ukraine". It was also pointed out that Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the author of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, called the destruction of the Ukrainian nation a classic example of genocide. More than 20 countries have officially condemned and recognized the Holodomor as the genocide of the Ukrainian people. At the same time, the Russian government denies that the famine was directed against the nation, and denies that it was an act of genocide.
A silence's
minute across the country was announced after the presidential speech on the
Holodomor and the national action "Light a Candle" began.
Candles were lit by President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko, members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the World Congress of Ukrainians, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, as well as by representatives of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol, the regions of Ukraine, heads and members of diplomatic missions accredited in Ukraine and international organizations.