"Now, as 80 years ago, Ukraine is fighting against total evil" — President Zelenskyy addressed Ukrainians on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the World War II

On May 8, Ukraine and the free world remember six terrible years in the history of mankind. From 1939 to 1945... The years that took the lives of millions of people, including 8 million Ukrainians. The years of occupation and atrocities, bloody battles and bombings, blockades and mass executions, the Holocaust. All the evil that Nazism brought to the world, brought to our land.

It was on May 8, 1945, that the act of unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht entered into force. It is on May 8 that the world honors the memory of all those, whose lives were taken by that war. It is pure history, without ideological admixtures. And it is the history of our people, our allies, the entire free world.

We will never forget the contribution of the Ukrainian people to the victory over Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to erase the role of Ukrainians in this victory, our people, that generation whose memory we cherish in almost every family.

We destroyed evil together! In the same way as we are now opposing a similar evil together.

And like in the Second World War, we are not alone against evil. We fight against it together in the same way — together with the entire free world. With the states and people who created a joint victory at that time. Who, remembering the terrible years of that war, do not say "We can do it again!" but defend the meaning of the words "Never again!" Who did not betray the memory of their heroes and preserve the power of our common values — human life and freedom, equality and dignity, and a world without xenophobia and anti-Semitism, without racism and intolerance, without ideologies of hatred.

We fought then and we fight now so that no one ever again enslaves other nations and destroys other countries. And all those old evils that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated. An honest memory of the past always strengthens faith in the future. Today, paying tribute to the most important victory of the 20th century, we are all waiting and approaching a new great day — a new victory. Our victory. Victory Day of Ukraine. Of course, joint. Which we will gain together with everyone who is helping us now.

We will remember every state and every nation that joined us in the struggle for freedom. We will never say that the victory could have happened without any of them. It will be a joint success, but I am sure that the world will call this day the same — Victory Day of Ukraine.

The day when we expel the last occupier from our land. The day when we liberate all our cities and villages. The day when the curfew throughout Ukraine is replaced by the first minute of peace. When we can forget about the "Air Alarm" application. When the soldiers return to their families, the emigrants return to their homes. When we can safely travel through our country and discover its beauty again and again. When we meet guests of Ukraine, friends of Ukraine at our airports in Boryspil, Simferopol, and our other cities. In the free cities of free Ukraine!

We will not lose what we have gained, we will return everything captured by the enemy, we will rebuild what was destroyed and together we will protect it all.

We do not yet know the date of our victory but we know that it will be a holiday for all of Ukraine, for all of Europe, for the entire free world. There will be a holiday for all our heroes — our defenders, all our people who fight and work for our victory, all our allies and partners who strive for our victory as much as we do.