Last year, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by law established May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory - the only date when Ukraine celebrates the victory over Nazism and honors the memory of those who died in the Second World War.
This year, for the first time, we joined the European tradition of celebrating this date. For Europe, May 8 is the starting point of the end of the war, the victory over the terrible evil of Nazism, a reminder of the catastrophe of the war, and not of the triumph of some nations over others, of the victors over the vanquished. 
The Second World War covered a large part of the planet. 61 states took part in it. Military operations were conducted on the territory of about 40 countries - in Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the Pacific region. According to various estimates, from 50 to 85 million people died in that war.
On May 8, the Day of Remembrance and Victory, Ukraine honors everyone who fought against Nazism. Peaceful civilians who died or were injured by hostilities and the occupation of their cities and villages, children of war, and forced laborers deserve no less attention and memory. After all, war is not only tanks, guns and large-scale battles. These are destinies, millions of small and large human troubles that have lasted for years.
On the side of the anti-Hitler coalition, millions of Ukrainians resisted with weapons in their hands in various regular armies of the world, hundreds of thousands fought in underground and rebel structures. Almost all Ukrainian enterprises were reoriented to defense needs. At the same time, Ukrainian land was one of the main places of hostilities, the place of large-scale battles and the fiercest resistance.
During the occupation of the territory of Ukraine, both totalitarian regimes committed numerous crimes against the civilian population - the Holocaust, mass murders and deportations of peoples. The losses of Ukrainians in the Second World War are about 8 million people (of which five million are civilians and three million are military).
Today, Ukrainians with weapons in their hands defend Europe and give a chance to build a more lasting peace and create a new, fairer global security system. The condition for this is victory!
We believe in the Armed Forces and Ukraine!