11 February 2014, 09:00
To veterans of the Great Patriotic War,
citizens of Shepetivka,
Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Dear friends!
I sincerely congratulate you on the 70th anniversary of liberating Shepetivka from fascist invaders.
Severe years of the Great Patriotic War have become history. However, they still live in people’s memory. By commemorating liberators of Shepetivka we pay tribute to the war epoch generation, its devotion to the Homeland, and feat of arms, which is once more reminding us of a significant contribution the Ukrainian peoples have made to the Victory, to the noble mission of preventing a deadly threat not only from our country but from the whole world’s civilization.
Every day of that war was holy – days of important defensive actions, as well as days of victorious offensives. Nothing could have destroyed national love to the native land and readiness to protect it. Thousands of soldiers and officers, who gave up their lives to approximate the long-awaited day of the town’s liberation, rest in mass graves. We bow low to them!
Dear veterans, the Great Patriotic War is not history for you, it is an event that was, is, and will be forever a painful and an open wound. We will always keep in our minds your example of dignity and glory, heroism and self-sacrifice, patriotism and fidelity to duty.
I wish all Shepetivka’s families good health, welfare, warmth and comfort, optimism and unshakable faith in tomorrow.
Volodymyr RYBAK
Kyiv,
February 11, 2014