Holodomor in facts:
The Holodomor of 1932-1933 was a man-made famine policy introduced by the Soviet regime against the people of Ukraine. The Holodomor meets the definition of genocide according to Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
After Stalin concentrated the full power in the Soviet Union in his hands in the late 1920s, he introduced totalitarian policies that Ukrainians massively resisted. As a measure of total subjugation, Moscow conducted a genocide by forcible seizure of grain and other food from Ukrainians. To enforce this starvation policy, the Soviet regime sealed the borders & settlements to prevent Ukrainians from escaping.
The exact number of victims of the Holodomor-genocide is difficult to determine because the communist regime did everything to hide its crimes. However, according to scientists' data, at least 3.9 million people starved to death in Ukraine in 1932-1933; another 600 thousand were unborn victims. Thus, cumulative demographic losses amount to at least 4.5 million lives.
Holodomor & Russia's war against Ukraine:
Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death as a part of his genocidal policy in Ukraine. By destroying Ukrainian agriculture infrastructure and undermining the work of the Black Sea grain deal, Putin is using food as a weapon to implement his aggressive political agenda in the world.
As during the Holodomor of 1932-1933, today Russia is repeating the genocide against the Ukrainian people. The “harvest of sorrow” continues.
Russia's goal both in this war and during the Holodomor was and remains to be an elimination of the Ukrainian identity and Ukrainian nation as such. To achieve this, Russia attempts to break the will of Ukrainians to resist, using a wide range of terrorist tools aimed at the mass destruction of the population of Ukraine.
As during the Soviet times, today Russia actively pursues the assimilation and Russification of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. To eliminate Ukrainian identity, culture, and language, Russia kills and deports Ukrainians, denies their right to existence, destroys their spiritual and cultural heritage, and burns Ukrainian literature.
Deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure; blocking evacuation from occupied territories; forcible deportation of Ukrainian kids to Russia for illegal adoption; targeting historical and cultural heritage sites and places of worship; public denial of the existence of Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation itself; mass graves discovered in the liberated Ukrainian cities of Bucha, Borodyanka, Hostomel, Irpin, Izyum, and others, confirm that Russia's barbaric actions against Ukraine and Ukrainians constitute the body of evidence of deliberate genocide of the Ukrainian people.
In the winter of 1932-33, Russian imperialism killed millions by starving them to death. In the winter of 2023-24, it will try to kill millions by freezing them to death. It’s up to the world not to allow a crime against humanity now the way it happened 90 years ago.
Russia’s Hunger Games:
The Soviet regime committed the Holodomor of 1932-1933, while the Russian regime started the world #HungerGames.
Millions of Ukrainians lost their lives because of man-made famine, Holodomor. Today, as a result of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine, people in other parts of the world are experiencing food shortages & rising food prices. Hundreds of millions of people in Africa and Asia feel the consequences of the destruction of Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure and the blockade of Ukrainian grain exports by Russia. Before the 2022 invasion, Ukraine held 47% of sunflower, 17% of barley, 14% of corn, and 10% of wheat world market shares. In countries like Lebanon, India, Iraq, and China, specific agricultural goods from Ukraine accounted for over 50% of their imports.
Similarly, as it did 90 years ago during the Holodomor, Russia is again stealing grain and other products from the territories it occupies in Ukraine. Russia sells this grain on the world market, earning money to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine further.
The international community should not repeat the mistakes of the past. The world did not stop Holodomor 90 years ago, but it can prevent Russia from starving people in the most vulnerable regions.
Recognition of Holodomor:
We must restore historical justice – recognize the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people and prevent Russia from further committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The process of the international recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people began with a Statement by the Parliament of Estonia adopted on October 20, 1993.
As of today, Holodomor was recognized as a genocide by 28 countries on the highest parliamentary level, as well as by the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, and Baltic Assembly. Ten more countries recognized Holodomor on the regional level, and 21 countries established a memorial dedicated to it.
Unpunished evil and unacknowledged mistakes return on a worse scale. Impunity breeds impunity. The Soviet Union was never punished for its crimes. Russian cruelty and barbarity are back, challenging not only humanity but the very existence of mankind. Recognizing the Holodomor means breaking this vicious cycle.