Ukrainian diplomat pays tribute to WWII victims

By Tevfik Durul

ANKARA (AA) - The Ukrainian envoy to Turkey issued a message early Saturday to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII and said Europe suffered greatly during the war but Ukrainians had their share.

Andrii Sybhia remembered those fallen during the war with respect and said Ukrainians knew the price of peace more than anyone else on the continent.

He said historians argued between 50 million to 80 million souls were killed in the bloodiest war in history and Ukraine was at the epicenter of the conflict, losing about 8 million and other countries such as Russia, Germany and Poland also greatly suffered.

The population of Soviet-era Ukraine was 41.1 million, but that figure dropped to 27.4 in 1945, according to the ambassador.

Stressing 714 cities and 28,000 villages in Ukraine were damaged fully or partially during the war,

He noted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fought against the Nazis and shed blood to free countries, including Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Yugoslavia.

He said Russia abused the issue of defeating Nazism and sought to devour Ukraine with the annexation of Crimea.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas