Every year, on the fourth Saturday of November, Ukraine and the world commemorate millions of victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933. We honor the memory of those who starved to death not because of poor crops or natural disasters but because of Stalin’s purposeful genocide of Ukrainians.

Almost ten decades have passed since this crime. 

This year, Ukrainians will honor the memory of the victims of the genocide during a full-scale war with Russia again. The war is once again accompanied by genocidal practices. However, this time Russian regime no longer hides its goal of eliminating Ukrainian identity.

Moreover, Moscow is once again using food as a weapon, this time – to pressure the international community. For months, the Black Sea was completely blocked by Russia, significantly reducing the number of agricultural products exported from Ukraine. 730,000 people in the world face famine because of Russia’s aggression. Ukrainian fertile lands are covered with explosives, while Ukrainian crops are stolen from the temporarily occupied territories.

The crimes and tragedies unfold before our eyes and show why remembrance is so important. Those who committed crimes against humanity must be condemned, while the victims must be honored justly. Otherwise, unpunished evil will return again and again. Just like the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine, the genocide of the early 1930s was a response to Ukrainians’ desire to live freely and independently on their own land.