Dear friends!

Today's date – the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Ukraine from the German invaders – is another reason for us to bow our heads to the feat of those who saved our land at the cost of incredible efforts and their shed blood. Millions of lives were given in order to liberate Ukraine from the bearers of a man-hateful ideology that considered the Slavs, Jews and representatives of other peoples as “non-humans” to be destroyed or enslaved. 75 years ago, during the Great War, people began to value the concepts of “peace” and “human life” in a new way.

Unfortunately, today we live in a society where the spiritual heirs of Nazism once again raise their heads, and where politicians do not feel shy calling to reconsider the results of the Great Patriotic War. Just a while ago, desecration of the symbols of the Victory and the memory of Heroes was encouraged at the level of the country's top leadership, and institutions aiming to reconsider our recent past were funded at public expense. Ukrainian people have made an appraisal of these forces in the attempts of the latter to rewrite the history, and again showed their wisdom.

Today our task is to prevent the revenge of nationalists and other ideological heirs of those who suffered a crushing defeat 75 years ago. I am sure that we will not allow the revival of fascism.

I sincerely congratulate everyone on the great holiday of the Liberation! I wish wisdom and strength of spirit to all of us! Special thanks are extended to the veterans who survived to this day. I wish you good health, longevity and peace! Thank you for your feat! Thank you for Ukraine!