(AP) – President Viktor Yushchenko marked the 61st anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the Nazis, laying flowers Oct. 28 at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in a solemn ceremony.
“With the deepest sincerity, we express our thanks to our fathers and grandfathers, who with their own blood and unbelievable suffering won the right to live and be free,” Yushchenko wrote in an address to the nation.
The low-key commemorations contrasted sharply to how the date was celebrated last year in the midst of Ukraine’s bitter presidential election.
Former President Leonid Kuchma had hosted a big, Soviet-style parade in downtown Kyiv, attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The televised event – the first time that date was celebrated in such style – was widely seen as the Kremlin’s political endorsement of Yushchenko’s opponent, then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer, went on to win the hotly contested race in an unprecedented court-ordered third round as tens of thousands of his supporters gathered in downtown Kyiv for what became known as the Orange Revolution.
This time, Yushchenko’s brief commemorations were attended by Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko and other officials.
Ukraine saw some of World War II’s fiercest battles, when German troops and their allies seized its territory and were later driven out by the Red Army. Kyiv and many other cities suffered massive damage.
An estimated 7 million Ukrainians died in the war, and 2.4 million Ukrainian residents were sent to Nazi concentration camps.
