On April 16, the Mission de la Libération (Liberation Mission) at the Ministry of the Armed Forces announced its intention to invite Russia to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings, "so that the importance of the commitment and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples, as well as its contribution to the victory of 1945, may be honored."
This announcement has caused deep dismay in Ukrainian society, as well as among those who support its existential struggle. It has also shocked many figures loyal to the spirit of the Resistance and the Liberation.
Firstly, inviting Russia to represent the Soviet people is tantamount to making it the heir to the struggle against Nazism on the Eastern Front. It means placing the memory of all the Red Army soldiers and partisans from the 15 countries that emerged from the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 under the tutelage of the Kremlin's leader. Yet, the heirs of these fighters are just as much Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Georgian, Turkmen, Baltic, Belarusian, as they are Russian. Nor should we forget the Crimean Tatars, who were deported on Stalin's orders from May 18 to June 8, 1944, during Operation Overlord, resulting in approximately 100,000 deaths.
Ukrainian heroes
Several former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, paid at least as heavy a price as Russia for the final victory, in proportion to their population.
Among the heroes of the Soviet Union, there were many Ukrainians, such as Marshal Andrey Yeryomenko (1892-1970), successively commander of the Stalingrad front (grouping several armies), then of the Ukrainian front from September 1943, who led his troops as far as Prague. There was also the Soviet pilot Ivan Kozhedub (1920-1991), considered the fighter ace of the Allied air forces, who shot down the greatest number of enemy aircraft during the war.
Honored three times with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he was born in Sumy, Ukraine, a town largely destroyed by the Russian offensive in March 2022. On French soil, between Caen and Falaise, at the Cintheaux cemetery, lie 88 Canadians of Ukrainian origin who fell in the Battle of Normandy, such as soldier Mathew Hydichuk.
This same Ukraine has been the victim of Russian aggression since 2014 – with its accompanying rapes, child abductions, torture and strikes on hospitals, schools and energy infrastructure. Which country more courageously defends the values of freedom and democracy embodied in the 1945 victory?
Contrary to the European Parliament's resolution
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