Zelenskiy praises German parliament for declaring Ukraine famine a genocide

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, praised Wednesday's (30 November) German Parliament vote that declared the starvation death of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933 a genocide.

According to German media, the three parties that make up Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition voted earlier in the day in Germany for the same cause in the Bundestag.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sent police to seize grain and livestock from newly-collectivised Ukrainian farms. They also took the seed to plant the next crop. In the months that followed, millions of Ukrainian peasants died from starvation.

This is a decision for justice and truth. It is an important signal for many countries around the world that Russian revanchism won't succeed in rewriting history," Zelenskiy said in an evening speech.

Romania, Ireland, and Moldova are just a few of the countries that have declared the Holodomor a genocide.

On Saturday (27 November), Ukraine accused the Kremlin of reviving Stalin's "genocidal” tactics. Moscow claims that the deaths were not caused by a deliberate policy of genocidal violence and says Russians and other ethnicities also suffered from famine.

Zelenskiy is pressing Germany for more weapons to protect itself from the Russian invasion that began in February. He said future generations would be grateful to Scholz if Berlin provided U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems. Germany states that it is currently discussing this request with its allies.

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