Friends!

Friends, today in Ukraine is the Day of Sorrow and the commemoration of the victims of the war.

On this day in 1941 Ukrainian land felt the first blows of the enemy. During the Second World War, each fifth Ukrainian died. In general, Ukraine suffered the most from Hitler's aggression and from the devastating miscalculations of the Stalinist leadership.

The Ukrainian direction was one of the most important according to the Barbarossa plan. Tens of thousands of innocent people have fallen into the bloody wheel of war. It is impossible not to mention all the horrors of the Holocaust in Ukrainian land. The biggest tragedy of the occupation, the extermination of the civilian population in Babi Yar in Kyiv, will never be erased from memory. In total, during the war years, 3.9 million civilians were killed in Ukraine.

Another terrible tragedy was the mass deportation - about 2.4 million people were taken to Germany from Ukraine. Tens of thousands of them died. In general, Ukrain lost more people in the Second World than the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and France combined, total losses, according to various estimates, reach 10 million. 714 towns and settlements of urban type, more than 28 thousand villages, have become ruins.

We paid too much because of collisions between two totalitarian regimes. It is a pity that the war has left the Ukrainian lands for a short time, and now Ukrainians are also defending their homeland from the invaders. On this day, it is worth remembering all those who are not among us, who paid a high price for our future. And also to wish health, strength and inspiration to those who now with arms continue to protect our present. We thank you.