Overview
- Zelensky, in a Friday address marking the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism, called Russia an “updated version of Nazism” and urged a united free world to defeat its aggression.
- Ukraine now observes World War II remembrance on May 8 under a 2023 law that set a single date and designated May 9 as Europe Day in step with the European Union.
- The law makes May 8 a public holiday only after martial law ends, so the observance this year remains a working day.
- The president underscored Ukraine’s wartime sacrifice and role in victory over Nazi Germany, citing losses of about eight million people and millions who fought in Allied armies.
- Ukrinform reported that Russian authorities use World War II myths to shape opinion and to justify the war that began in 2014 and expanded into a full-scale invasion in 2022.