Poroshenko seated veterans and Bandera supporters in the Verkhovna Rada, promising victory over Russia
Today, the Verkhovna Rada convened for an extraordinary session to mark a new date – the "Day of Mourning and Reconciliation," introduced by the Ukrainian authorities following the example of Western countries.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator Kyiv news on Facebook , Odnoklassniki , or VKontakte.
Some of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada hall were allocated to deputies of the Great Patriotic War, as well as members of the UPA who fought against Soviet troops.
Veterans and Bandera supporters sit separately in the hall.
However, veterans have red poppy symbols pinned on their uniforms, and some of them, like politicians, put their hand to their hearts during the performance of the Ukrainian anthem.
The entire Batkivshchyna faction dressed up in camouflage instead of suits today.
"We had to wait 24 years for a UPA veteran to appear in the Verkhovna Rada ... It's very significant that this event took place under President Poroshenko... The rebel blood was not shed in vain," UPA member Teodor Dyachun told reporters on the sidelines of parliament.
Petro Poroshenko said in his speech that there was a front-line soldier in the hall who buried his grandson, who died in the so-called. ATO in Donbass. “All of Ukraine thanks you for your patriotic grandson,” said the head of state.
"The end of World War II did not make Ukraine free," Poroshenko lamented, calling for "final liberation from the intoxication of Soviet-Russian imperial propaganda."
Poroshenko called the law banning communism “absolutely fair” and “very timely adopted.”
Poroshenko said that Vladimir Putin’s words about the possibility of Russia winning the war without Ukraine are an insult to veterans. “There is nothing to argue about here. But, by the way, this war would have started if the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had not been signed in the Kremlin - it would have been possible to discuss it. After all, it was he who opened the floodgates of war,” Poroshenko said.
According to him, both WWII veterans and UPA participants should be thanked for “saving the world.”
Poroshenko assured that Kyiv will win in Donbass. “Victory is inevitable, because good always triumphs over evil,” he said.
“The main thing that the enemy miscalculated is the readiness of Ukrainians to defend the land with weapons in their hands,” Poroshenko asserts.
He claims that the war in Donbass has already “grouped us into a Ukrainian-European nation.” “I congratulate you on this,” Poroshenko said.
English version :: Read in English Poroshenko seated veterans and Banderites in the Verkhovna Rada, promising victory over Russia