Sergey Troyan

Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Professor at the Department of International Relations, Information and Regional Studies of the National Aviation University

Natalia Nechaeva-Yuriychuk

Сandidate of Historical Sciences (Ph.D.), Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Yuri Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration

The beginning of May is traditionally characterized in Ukraine by various discussions on the celebration of certain dates initiated by the Soviet past. Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014, in violation of territorial integrity and state sovereignty, has forced many Ukrainians to take a more conscious approach to the historical and political stereotypes imposed by the former Soviet leadership on dates set by former Soviet leaders to determine and commemorate events of national importance.

Although the whole world celebrates the end of World War II in September, May is a symbol month. First of all, for Ukraine, which is celebrating the next anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe in a state of war, treacherously unleashed against us by a nuclear superpower, and one of the guarantors of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On February 24, 2022, Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine became a total of conventional armed aggression. As of May 6, according to the Prime Minister of Ukraine D. Shmygal, the losses of our state from the war are estimated at $ 600 billion without taking into account the losses in the temporarily occupied territories. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, including civilians died. Millions of Ukrainians have become refugees or internally displaced persons. The actions of the aggressor state are in fact crimes against humanity. The last time this happened on Ukrainian soil was during World War II and the Nazi occupation regime, which officially ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, and the crimes of Nazism and fascism and their perpetrators were condemned by decisions and verdicts of the Nuremberg tribunal.

It is very symbolic that Ukrainians were at the epicenter of significant events in the end of the war in Europe. On April 30, 1945, Ukrainian Red Army lieutenant Oleksiy Berest, a Ukrainian from the Sumy Region, also hoisted the USSR Red Flag over the Reichstag. Photos of the victorious flag were taken from the plane of another Ukrainian from Kyiv region, Ivan Veshtak. It was he who flew over the Reichstag several times while Pravda correspondent Viktor Tyomin took historical photographs. Finally, World War II ended on September 2, 1945 with the defeat and signing of the surrender of Japan. It was a Ukrainian from Uman, Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, who signed the act of her surrender on behalf of the USSR.

Independent Ukraine celebrates two dates: May 8 is the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, and May 9 is the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II. No country can claim recognition of its unique role in the victory over Nazism. It was the result of the joint titanic efforts of dozens of states and hundreds of nations. But Remembrance and Reconciliation Day is a celebration of the heroism of the Ukrainian people, their significant contribution to the victory of the Allies in the Anti-Hitler Coalition in the war that took the lives of tens of millions (estimated at 50 to 85 million) worldwide.

The contribution of Ukrainians to the common victory over Nazism and fascism was recognized immediately after the end of the war – Ukraine received the right to become a founding member of the United Nations. But the most important result of the second global armed conflict for Ukrainians was not the cult of victory, but the ability to value and defend peace as a key condition of humanism, human dignity, values ​​of human life, harmonious development of the individual and society. Today they are defended by the Ukrainian people in the National Liberation War against a brutal and dishonest enemy. Defends its own and European present and future from illegal and condemned by the world community of Russian aggression.

Only one question remains open: what will Europe and the world do with the current aggressor? How will he be punished? What tribunal or process will condemn the crimes committed by the Russian side in Ukraine today?

Historical background:

On May 7, 1945, at 2:41 a.m. CET, Wehrmacht Colonel-General Alfred Jodl signed  the German Instrument of Surrender as a representative of the Wehrmacht. The capitulation was accepted by US Army Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith (from the Anglo-American side) and Major General Ivan Susloparov (from the USSR). As a witness from France, the Instrument was also signed by Brigadier General Francois Sevez. The surrender of defeated Nazi Germany took effect on May 8 at 11:01 pm Central European Time. However, in the USSR, information about the surrender on May 7 was strictly banned. Joseph Stalin, in particular, stated: “The treaty signed in Reims cannot be abolished neither can it be recognized. Surrender should be carried out as the most important historical act and not taken on the territory of the victors, and where the fascist aggression came from – in Berlin, and not unilaterally, but necessarily the supreme command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition”. In response, the Allies agreed to hold a re-signing ceremony of the Instrument of Surrender in Berlin. It took place on May 8 at 22:43 Central European Time (00:43 Moscow time) in Karlshorst, a suburb of Berlin, in the building of the former canteen of the Military Engineering School. The unconditional surrender of Germany, signed in particular by Field Marshal General Wilhelm Keitel, was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov (from the USSR) and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Marshal Arthur Tedder (Great Britain). Generals Carl Spaats (USA) and J. de Latry de Tassini (France) signed as witnesses.

The difference in the time of signing the Instrument became a formal occasion to celebrate the victory over Nazism and Fascism on different days – May 8 in Europe and America, May 9 in the USSR. In European historiography, the signing of the surrender of the German armed forces is usually associated with the Reims procedure, and the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin is called “ratification”.