In a speech broadcast this Sunday, the Ukrainian president draws a parallel between the bombings in his country and the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.
The commemoration of the end of the Second World War resonates painfully this year for the invaded Ukrainians. On the occasion of May 8, the anniversary of the German capitulation, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his people in a long filmed speech, broadcast Sunday morning on social networks, drawing the parallel between the bombardments experienced by his country and the attacks of Hitler. “This year, “Never again” resonates differently for us“, begins the President standing, planted in a gloomy decor of burnt buildings.
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“On February 24, the word “never” was erased. Shot down and bombarded. By hundreds of missiles at 4 a.m., which woke up all of Ukraine“, he recalls in this speech”on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation”evoking the amazement of his people and the world at the outbreak of the “special operation» Russian. “The evil has returned. Again !“.
The Head of State challenges, in turn, the countries that have suffered the aggression of the Führer. Starting with Poland, a country wherethe Nazis began their march and fired the first shot of World War II». “Remember evil first accuses you, provokes you, calls you an aggressor, then attacks at 4:45 saying it’s self defense», Says Zelensky to the address of the Poles. The Head of State then reminds the British of Coventry “wiped outto the CzechsLidice destroyed, leaving only ashes of the village», to the Dutch Rotterdam «first city completely destroyed», receiving “97 tons of bombsdropped by the Nazis.
Historical speech
The Ukrainian president also addresses France to recall the worst massacres perpetrated by the Nazis. “The French remember it. Remember Oradour-sur-Glane, where the SS burned alive half a thousand women and children. Mass hangings in Tulle, massacre in the village of Ascq. Thousands of people at a resistance rally in occupied Lille”, he enumerates, drawing a parallel with the attacks suffered by his own country from Russia, “in Boutcha, Irpin, Borodyanka, Volnovakha and Trostyanets».
While Russia had itself fought against Hitler in 1945 at the cost of multiple sacrifices, Volodymyr Zelensky evokes the new Russian aggressor. “Unfortunately, there are those who, having survived all these crimes, having lost millions who fought for victory and won it, have desecrated their memory and their achievement today“, he underlines. And to point, without naming him, to the master of the Kremlin, “that’s why I wrote to youwho made himself an aggressor of Ukraine inchallenge(ing) all mankind“. “The one who spat in the face of his “Immortal Regiment” (popular memorial march that takes place every May 9 in Russia, editor’s note)placing at his side torturers from Boutcha“, accuses Zelensky, ending however on a note of hope. “I forgot the main thing: all evil always ends the same way – it ends“.
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“Many are waiting for Putin’s May 9 speech. But that of Zelensky on May 8 will certainly go down in history, at least for us researchers.“, underlined on Twitter Russia specialist Anna Colin Lebedev. In fact, Russia commemorates the end of the Second World War one day after the Europeans, considering that the German capitulation was signed on May 8 at 11:10 p.m. Berlin time, therefore at 1:10 a.m. Moscow time. Ukraine was doing the same until 2015. After the annexation of Crimea, the country distanced itself from the East and decided to adopt European time, and therefore to celebrate the end of the war on May 8.
Volodymyr Zelensky has thus chosen a concerning, embodied style, both in terms of the content and the form of his speech. “There is a break in style with the classic speech of a head of state, as often with Zelensky», Analyzes researcher Anna Colin Lebedev. “And we can bet that the contrast will be striking with Putin’s speech tomorrow“.