Ukraine celebrates the Day of Victory over Nazism – on this day, mass events near the Memorial of Eternal Glory were traditionally held in Kyiv, but this year, due to martial law, this is prohibited.
During martial law, it is forbidden to hold any mass events. However, the Kiev city authorities did not forbid people to privately come and lay flowers at the eternal fire, according to TSN .
Polina Alexandrovna is 94 years old, she is a participant in the Second World War. Celebrating May 9 is important for her. He says that together with other soldiers they liberated Kyiv. Therefore, a woman knows perfectly well what terror looks like, but now even she finds it difficult to find words because of what the Russian army is doing on Ukrainian soil. “Hitler didn’t do this, what does this one do. He didn’t level all the cities and villages with the ground,” the woman says.
And she proudly says that she is Ukrainian. “I am for my Ukraine, I have children for Ukraine, I myself am Ukrainian, I come from Uman, we rebuilt everything here. Those who were for the Soviet Union, they are. They have not changed,” the woman says.
This year, there are almost no people in Soviet uniforms and representatives of the “immortal regiment” near the monument. But some still come with the same Russian narratives: Russia and Ukraine are “fraternal peoples.”
“Russia as it was a neighbor, Ukraine as a neighbor – and stay. It has been like this for millennia and will be for millennia, we will live together, neighbors are neighbors, and leadership is different,” one of the visitors says.
“I am of the opinion that the peoples, the Slavs, are fraternal peoples. And it is not the peoples themselves who fight against each other, they would never have guessed to fight in their lives – it does not depend on them, ”one of the veterans adds.
And they openly urge to surrender, because allegedly we will not be able to defeat Russia. “We are not against the fact that Russia is a strong enemy, what can I say: weapons and so on, and a strong army. So, what are we going to win? If we win, then how will we win if it is stronger, and if not, then why lose people? We have to put up with it, because this is the best option, ”adds the veteran.
But the war with Russia still changed many. What some people propagandize, others flatly declare – the Russians will not be forgiven.
“From the beginning of 2014, when hostilities began, when Russia acted as an invader, when they seized our territory, Crimea, started these hostilities in the Donbass, there can be no question. We will never forgive this. No talk about Russia, this is our enemy forever,” the visitors convince.
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