President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s May 8 address, delivered on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism, links the moral lesson of World War II to Ukraine\u2019s current fight for survival. Speaking from central Kyiv, he recalls how Khreshchatyk stood empty on February 24, 2022, and contrasts that memory with today\u2019s stubborn normalcy\u2014people working, brewing coffee, moving vehicles to the front, and thanking soldiers who briefly rotate home before returning to the line. That everyday life, he argues, is the clearest answer to why evil will again be defeated.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy sets Ukraine\u2019s ethos against Russia\u2019s ritualized May 9 display, describing a \u201cparade of fear\u201d on Red Square that rehearses triumphal myths while ignoring atrocities. He points to the grotesque inversion whereby the organizers of mass graves in Bucha will speak about Nazi crimes, and those who blockaded Mariupol will lecture about the siege of Leningrad. The slogan \u201cWe can repeat\u201d is, in his telling, proof that Russia chose repetition of evil rather than remorse. By contrast, modern Ukraine grounds its identity in the dignity of ordinary heroes\u2014soldiers and civilians\u2014and in a culture of memory that grew from a small, improvised plaque into a national place of mourning filled with flags, portraits, and candles.<\/p>\n
He honors the more than eight million Ukrainians who died in World War II and the quiet sobriety of the veterans who used to toast only that there be no war. Today, nearly every family, he says, has a defender in the struggle against a new iteration of the same evil. Securing a just peace, therefore, requires unity and pressure: not appeasement, but coordinated force across the battlefield, diplomacy, and the economy. Either Russia must fundamentally change, or\u2014as 80 years ago\u2014the world must change around it and confront aggression without illusions. Only then will the promise of \u201cnever again\u201d become real.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy closes with a call to treat May 8 as a meaningful day of remembrance and resolve, honoring the fallen and those defending life today. His message blends mourning with defiance: memory as a compass, resilience as a duty, and victory as the restoration of life across Ukraine.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On May 8, President Zelenskyy marked the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism by linking WWII\u2019s \u2018never again\u2019 to Ukraine\u2019s present fight. He honored fallen and serving defenders, condemned Russia\u2019s May 9 spectacle, and urged united pressure until a just peace.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[701,677,678,682],"class_list":["post-1739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-kyiv","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-zelensky","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n