Today, Ukraine, together with the Europeans, and not on May 9, like the Russians, pays tribute to those who died and fought during World War II.
On this occasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Ukrainians, standing in front of the apartment building in Borodyanka, which was cut in two by a rocket explosion. He reminded us that this war was started by Russia despite the slogan “Never again!” That has survived for decades.
Can spring become black and white? Is there an eternal February? Are golden words devalued? Unfortunately, Ukraine knows the answers to all these questions. Unfortunately, these answers are “Yes”.
Every year on May 8, together with the entire civilized world, we honor all those who defended the planet from Nazism during World War II. Millions of lives lost, mutilated destinies, tortured souls – and millions of reasons to say evil: never again!
We knew the price paid for this wisdom by our ancestors. They knew how important it was to preserve it and pass it on to posterity. But they did not even suspect that our generation would witness the mockery of words that, as it turned out, were not true for everyone.
This year we say “Never again” in a different way. We hear “Never Again” in a different way. Sounds painful, cruel. Not with an exclamation mark, but with a question mark. You say: Never again! Tell it to Ukraine.
On February 24, the word “never” was deleted. Shot and bombed. Hundreds of rockets at four in the morning woke up the whole of Ukraine. We heard terrible explosions. We heard: again!
The town of Borodyanka is one of the many victims of this crime! Behind me is one of the many testimonies! Not a military facility, not a secret base, but a simple nine-story apartment building. Can it pose a threat to the Russian Federation, to 1/8 of the land, to the second army in the world, to a nuclear state? Could there be anything more ridiculous than this question? Maybe.
250-kilogram high-explosive bombs were used by the superpower to bomb this small town. And he was speechless. Today he cannot say: “never again!”. He can’t say anything today. But here everything is clear and without words.
Just look at this house. There used to be walls here. There were photos on them. And in the pictures were those who once went through the hell of war. Fifty men were sent to Germany for forced labor. Those who were burned alive when the Nazis burned more than 100 villages.
250 soldiers who died on the fronts of World War II, and almost a thousand residents of Borodyanka who fought and defeated Nazism. Never again! They fought for the future of the children, for the life that was here until February 24.
Imagine how people went to bed in each of these apartments. Have a good night. They turn off the lights. Embrace loved ones. They close their eyes. They dream of something. There is complete silence. Everyone falls asleep without knowing that not everyone will wake up. They sleep soundly. They dream of something pleasant. But in a few hours, they will be awakened by rocket explosions. And some will never wake up again. Never again.
The word “never” was dropped from that slogan. Amputated during the so-called special operation. They stabbed us in the heart and, looking us in the eye, said, “It’s not us!” They tortured with the words “things are not so simple”. They killed “Never Again” by saying “We can do it again”.
That’s what happened. And the freaks started repeating it. And our cities, survivors of the terrible occupation – such that 80 years are not enough to forget about it – saw the occupiers again. And I got a second date of occupation in history. And some – such as Mariupol – a third. During the two years of occupation, the Nazis killed 10,000 civilians. In two months of occupation of the Russian Federation, 20,000 were killed.
Decades after World War II, the darkness returned to Ukraine. And she returned to black and white. Again! Evil is back. Again! In different forms, under different slogans, but for the same purpose.
A bloody reconstruction of Nazism was organized in Ukraine. A fanatical imitation of this regime.
His ideas, actions, words, and symbols. Manic – to the last detail – reproduction of his atrocities and “excuses”, which allegedly give evil a sacred purpose. The recurrence of his crimes and even attempts to surpass the “teacher” and remove him from the pedestal of the greatest evil in human history. Setting a new world record for xenophobia, hatred, racism, and the number of victims they can cause.
Never again! This was an ode to a reasonable man! Anthem of the civilized world!
But someone forged it. Disfigure “Never Again” with hints of doubt. He silenced him by singing his deadly aria of evil. And this is clear to all countries that have seen with their own eyes the horrors of Nazism. And today they are experiencing a terrible deja vu. They see him again!
All nations labeled “third-class” slaves with no right to their state or no existence at all hear statements glorifying one nation while erasing other nations with ease. They say that you do not exist, you are artificially created, which means that you have no rights. Everyone hears the language of evil. Again!
And together they acknowledge the painful truth: we have not spent a century. Our Never again did not last 77 years.
We slept through evil. It has revived. Again and now. Again and now!
This is understood by all countries and peoples who support Ukraine today. And despite the beast’s new mask, they recognized him. Because, unlike some, they remember what and what our ancestors fought for. They did not confuse the first with the second, they did not exchange their places, and they did not forget.
They did not forget the Poles on whose land the Nazis began their campaign and fired the first shot of World War II. They have not forgotten how evil first accuses you, provokes you, calls you an aggressor, and then attacks you at 4:45 and says that this is self-defense. And they saw how it happened again in our land. They remember Warsaw, which was destroyed by the Nazis. And they see what they did with Mariupol.
The British did not forget how the Nazis wiped Coventry off the face of the earth by bombing him 41 times. How did the “Moonlight Sonata” sound on the Luftwaffe planes, which were constantly attacking the city for 11 hours? How they destroyed its historic center, factories, and St. Michael’s Cathedral. And they saw how they hit Kharkiv with rockets. How its historic center, factories, and the Assumption Cathedral were crippled. They remember London being bombed for 57 consecutive nights. How Vow missiles fell on Belfast, Portsmouth, Liverpool … And they see cruise missiles falling on Nikolaev, Kramatorsk, Chernigov. They remember beating Birmingham. And they see how his twin city of Zaporizhzhia is being hit.
The Dutch remember. How Rotterdam became the first city to be destroyed when the Nazis dropped 97 tons of bombs on it.
The French remember. They remember Oradour-sur-Glan, where the SS burned fifteen hundred women and children alive. The mass hangings in Tulle, the massacre in the village of Ask. Thousands of resistance action in occupied Lille. They saw what they did in Bucha, Irpen, Borodyanka, Volnovakha, and Trostyanets. They see how they occupied Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, and other cities where people do not surrender. And they go on thousands of peaceful actions that are beyond the power of the occupier, and the only thing they can do is shoot at peaceful people.
The Czechs have not forgotten. How the Nazis destroyed Lidice in less than a day, leaving only one ash heap of the village. They saw how Popasnaya was destroyed. Not even ashes remained of him. The Greeks do not forget who survived the massacres and executions throughout their territory, the blockades, and the Great Famine.
They remember the Americans who fought evil on two fronts. Passing through Pearl Harbor and Dunkirk with the Allies. And together we are going through new, no less difficult battles.
Anyone who has survived the Holocaust remembers how much one nation can hate another.
This was not forgotten by Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Danes, Georgians, Armenians, Belgians, Norwegians, and many others – all who suffered from Nazism in their land and all who defeated it as part of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Unfortunately, there are those who, surviving in all these crimes, lost millions of people who fought for victory and won it, today desecrated the memory of them and their feat.
The one who allowed the cities of Ukraine to be shelled from his land. Who freed them along with our ancestors.
The one who spat in the face of his “Immortal Regiment”, placing Bucha executioners next to him.
And he challenged all of humanity.
But forget the main thing: that every evil always ends in the same way – it ends.
Dear Ukrainians!
Today, on the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, we pay homage to all those who defended their homeland and the world from Nazism. We celebrate the feast of the Ukrainian people and their contribution to the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Explosions, shots, trenches, wounds, famine, bombings, blockades, mass executions, punitive operations, occupation, concentration camps, gas chambers, yellow stars, ghettos, Babi Yar, Hatin, captivity, forced labor … They died for each of us to understand what these concepts mean, from books, not from our own experience. But things happened differently. It is not fair to all of them. But the truth will win. And we will overcome everything!
And the proof of that is Werewolf. This is Hitler’s former headquarters and bunker near Vinnytsia. All that’s left of it are a few stones. Ruins. Ruins of the one who considered himself great and invincible. It points the way for all of us and future generations. What did our ancestors fight for? They proved: that no evil can escape responsibility. He can’t hide in a bunker. There will be no stone left on it.
Therefore, we will overcome everything. And we know this for sure because our military and our entire nation are descendants of those who defeated Nazism. Therefore, they will win again.
And there will be peace again. Finally again!
We will overcome the winter, which began on February 24 and continues on May 8, but it will definitely end and the Ukrainian sun will drive it away! And we will all welcome the dawn, the whole country. And family and loved ones, friends, and loved ones will be with us! Finally again! And our flag will once again fly over the temporarily occupied towns and villages. Finally again! And we will get together. And there will be peace! Finally again! And there will be no more black and white dreams, only blue and yellow dreams. Finally again! This is what our ancestors fought for.
