Zelenskyy: Descendants of tyranny want to deprive all Ukrainian people of their home
On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russians are once again resorting to tyranny and deportation, as they did 78 years ago under Joseph Stalin.
Source: President's address on 18 May
Quote: "On 18 May 1944, the Soviet authorities began the forced deportation of the indigenous people of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, from their only homeland. After the terrible war that had taken place in Crimea, as well as throughout Ukraine, and throughout Europe, the entire [Crimean Tatar] people was then pushed to the brink of survival.
During and after the deportation, when the Crimean Tatar people were forced to live in a foreign land, almost half of those who were internally displaced - almost half of the [Crimean Tatar] people - died. It was a deliberate crime of tyranny against these people and against humanity itself.
Today we turn again to what was experienced then. And we are doing this in a situation where the descendants of that tyranny are not only trying to deprive the Crimean Tatars of their homes for the second time since 2014. They want to take away the home of the entire millions-strong Ukrainian nation – all who live on our land."
Details: Zelenskyy stressed that large areas of Ukraine are now under the occupation of the Russian authorities, and filtration camps have been set up there through which hundreds of thousands of people pass.
Just as they did 78 years ago, Russians are once again deporting hundreds of thousands of people to a foreign land, Zelenskyy said.
More than 12 million Ukrainian men and women have been forced to flee their homes, the president stressed.
According to him, the executioners of the people at that time were sure that no one would return home – and the current executioners of the people were also sure that everything would work out for them and the Ukrainians would not survive, but this is not the case.
Ukrainians are reclaiming their lands and inflicting heavy losses on Russia, a fact that it still does not want to recognise, Zelenskyy said.
