Kiev accused Russia of using the same “genocidal” tactics employed against Ukraine in the 1930s, when a period of widespread famine left millions dead in the country. The episode, called Holodomor, is remembered this Saturday (26).
Ukraine this year marks the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor by honoring its victims — as it struggles to repel Russian forces and grapples with power cuts across the country caused by attacks on its infrastructure.
“Before they wanted to destroy us with hunger. Now with darkness and cold,” President Volodymir Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
In November 1932, Soviet leader Josef Stalin sent military forces to seize food items, such as grain and livestock, from Ukrainian farms that had undergone collectivization. The action even covered seeds needed to plant future crops.
Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months. Timothy Snyder, a historian at Yale University in the United States, refers to the period as “clearly premeditated mass murder”.
Russia has carried out air strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in recent weeks that have killed civilians and caused power outages in different parts of the country.
Millions of Ukrainians were still without power after this week’s attacks, Zelensky said on Friday.
The Kremlin denied the attacks were aimed at civilians and said on Thursday that Kiev could “end the suffering” by meeting Russia’s demands to end the war.
In a statement on Saturday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry accused Moscow of reusing tactics employed in the 1930s episode.
“On the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine, the Russian genocidal war pursues the same goal as in 1932-1933: the elimination of the Ukrainian nation and its state,” he said.
“The political and ideological narratives of the Stalinist era, in particular the denial of Ukraine’s existence as an independent state, are actively reproduced today,” the ministry’s statement added.
Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union, but declared independence in 1991. Part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rationale for Moscow’s invasion was what he presents as the West’s effort to maintain its influence over Ukraine —the he recognizes as a threat to Russia.
The Ukrainian ministry also criticized what it said was an attempt by Russia to weaponize food by undermining a UN-brokered deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.
On a visit to Kiev, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, spoke about the subject. “Now the world faces another artificial famine,” he said. “We are working together to secure complete supplies from Ukraine to African and Asian countries,” said Morawiecki.
The Prime Ministers of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, and Lithuania, Ingrida Simonyte, also visited Ukraine.
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey made remarks on Friday rejecting Ukraine’s accusation that Russia is delaying the process of releasing the grains.
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