President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
©Administration of the President of Ukraine / president.gov.ua
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada, according to which the celebration of Victory Day in World War II is planned to be postponed to May 8. He announced this on his social networks.
The President recalled that the act of unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht came into force on May 8, 1945, writes TASS. “We are returning to our state an honest history without ideological admixtures. It is on May 8 that most peoples of the world remember the greatness of the victory over the Nazis. It is on May 8 that the world honors the memory of all those whose lives were taken by that war,” Zelensky wrote.
Since 2015, May 8 in Ukraine has been celebrated as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation. Thus, the country joined the celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany on the Western European model. The changes were approved as part of the implementation of the so-called decommunization policy. The red poppy became the symbol of the holiday. At the same time, Soviet symbols in Ukraine were completely banned, and their public wearing or distribution faces criminal and administrative liability.
