‘Russia will pay’, Ukraine says as it marks Soviet-era famine in which millions died
- Ukraine holds its memorial day for the victims of the ‘Holodomor’ famine during the winter of 1932-33 when Josef Stalin was Russia’s leader
- Millions of Ukrainians starved to death after Russian police seized all grain and livestock from farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crops
Ukraine accused the Kremlin on Saturday of using the same “genocidal” tactics that it used against it in the 1930s under Josef Stalin as Kyiv commemorated a Soviet-era famine that left millions of Ukrainians dead during the winter of 1932-33.
Ukraine this year holds its memorial day for the victims of the “Holodomor” famine as it grapples to repel invading Russian forces and deals with massive power outages across the country after waves of Russian air strikes on vital infrastructure.
“Once they wanted to destroy us with hunger, now – with darkness and cold,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel. “We cannot be broken.”
In November 1932, Soviet leader Stalin dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop.
Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls “clearly premeditated mass murder”.
“The Russians will pay for all of the victims of the Holodomor and answer for today’s crimes,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, wrote on Telegram.