Zelenskyy on Day of Victims of Genocide of Crimean Tatar People calls for unity: as long as we help each other, we will surely be protected
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People, stated that Russia did not stop there and began a new war against Ukraine precisely from Crimea, and is again trying to deprive the Crimean Tatar people and all Ukrainians of their home — "we are defending ourselves against this and, as long as we are together and helping each other, we will surely be protected."
"Today we remember and honor the memory of all victims of one of the most cruel crimes of the Soviet government — the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. A deportation that became an act of obvious genocide against the Crimean Tatar people. The year 1944 will forever be in history as an attempt to destroy a people — when both young and old were thrown out of their native home and sent to a foreign land. A significant part of the people died on the way, many could not endure in the places of exile — at least a third, and this may be a very conservative estimate," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday.
The President said: "We remember them. We have not forgotten and have not forgiven what happened. No people deserves such a thing. And all the more so, Russia did not stop at what it had already done and began a new war against Ukraine precisely from Crimea. And it is again trying to deprive the Crimean Tatar people and all of us, all Ukrainians, of our home. We are defending ourselves against this and, as long as we are together and helping each other, we will surely be protected."
"Eternal memory to all victims of the 1944 deportation. Eternal glory to those who fight for life and protect Ukraine," Zelenskyy added.
The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People is observed annually on May 18. On this day, the memory of the victims of the mass deportation of 1944, initiated by the Soviet totalitarian regime, is honored. On May 18, 1944, the communist regime began the forced removal of the indigenous people of Crimea on fabricated charges. Within a few days, more than 190,000 people (mostly women, children, and the elderly) were deported in freight cars to Central Asia and remote regions of the USSR.