[VIDEO] President Zelensky's Address on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy recorded an address in the village of Yahidne, Chernihiv region, on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.

During the occupation in March 2022, Russian invaders held all the villagers in the school basement for almost a month. 350 adults and children were left without food, water, and medicine. There was less than a square meter for each person: they had to sleep seated or standing.

“80 years ago, millions of Ukrainians fought to defeat Nazism forever. But today, Ukrainians are once again standing up to evil, which reemerged, returned, and wants to destroy us again. It’s an army of a fiend that kills, tortures and wipes peaceful cities and villages off the face of the Earth. This evil is called Russian fascism, or RF for short,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President called the basement in the village of Yahidne, Chernihiv region, a witness to this. The Russian invaders occupied this village on March 3, 2022. Among the villagers they held in the basement were 80 children. The youngest hostage was a month and a half old.   

“Everyone in the world can understand what Putin's Russia is by imagining themself here, in this basement, among these people, without light, food, water, medicine, and air, in a room with less than a meter per person. They slept seated. They went outside only once. They ate 200 grams of soup a day. The men were stripped naked in the freezing cold to find Ukrainian tattoos,” the Head of State noted. 

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The occupation of the village lasted 27 days. Over this period, 10 hostages died in the basement, whom the Russian torturers forbade to be buried. Another 17 people were killed by them. 

“In any corner of the world, that's known by the same word – Nazism. If that's not Nazism, then what is that? And everyone on Earth knows history and remembers how to fight Nazism. It’s done with humanity united to oppose Hitler, not with buying oil from him or attending his inauguration. Yahidne, a village that survived the hell of the RF, is just one example. It's just one village, but it reflects the essence of Putin's vision of the world,” the President said.

Ukrainian warriors liberated Yahidne from the Russian invaders on March 30, 2022. Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a symbol of history repeating itself: everyone who came to destroy us will eventually flee from Ukrainian land. 

“A part of our territory is still occupied, and some of our people are held in captivity, which means that our battle continues. And today, on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism, as we commemorate the millions of Ukrainians who fought and gained victory together with other nations, we keep believing and we bring a new day of a new victory closer,” the Head of State concluded.