Thus far we are afraid to intuitively think over the topic of the annihilation of millions of Ukrainians - our brothers and sisters. We should grasp this fact, all its cruelty.

Our nation was being killed deliberately and purposefully. The Ukrainian people were treated as a threat. As a misunderstanding. As rubbish. They haven’t existed. They don’t exist. They won’t live. We are familiar with the verdict.

First they destroyed the national leadership. Afterwards they enticed, intimidated, paralyzed politicians. In the aftermath they were killed in turn. Almost one after another.

Then they shot the priests. In the black water they drowned kobzars. The NKVD boot smashed clarinets, pince-nez and skulls of Ukrainian poets.

And when the nation went blind, when the nation went silent, when the nation became helpless, then there opened the gates of the terrible famine.

There is no death more terrible than that by hunger. The death of our nation was massive and at the same time, lonely. People slowly faded in the midst of life. Knowing that there was life near. Begging for salvation. But no help came. None offered the needed assistance.

The contrivance, the scheme and scale of this annihilation are devilish. And even more diabolic thing happened later. The killers just turned the page.

The status of "the turned page" haunts us during our entire history. We are the only to stop it.

They were trying not just to extinguish life. They were trying to eradicate the memory about our nation. Memory allows us to understand who we are. Memory shapes us and creates our imagination. Imagination creates our future.

We exist. This is an essential, fundamental and life-asserting fact. This is a strong response to evil and hatred against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian citizens, our language and our culture. This is the answer to each invader and each aggressor.

We exist. During the Revolution of Dignity everyone got the proof – Europe, America, Russia.

We exist. Let them turn hundreds of pages. While turning the pages there will anyway break through, emerge a living objective correlative of our nation, our life, our motion.

The main culprit of the Holodomor was Moscow. The Kremlin has been and still remains a murderer.

The main transgressor that planned and committed an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people was the totalitarian communist regime of the Soviet-era. The ideological basis for the Soviet terror was great-power Russian chauvinism.

I blame Russian chauvinism for the large-scale crimes against humanity.

From aggression of the Russian chauvinism there suffered every neighboring nation with Russia. Around the perimeter of the Russian state there is no country with which the Kremlin maintained equal and friendly relations.

A deep, century-old disease of Russian chauvinism and disdain for each neighbour, his culture, language or religion is actively encouraged these days by the regime of President Putin.

In fact, chauvinism is preached from the high clerical thrones of Russia. Look at the level of hatred and malice with which Russian chauvinism even now continues to deny the Holodomor, defending cannibalism of Stalin and erecting monuments to him.

Russian chauvinism tries at all costs to justify the Kremlin's aggression against all nations - Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Kazakhs, the peoples of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Defending Stalin, they seek to assert the war against dissension, freedom, against the liberty-loving part of Russia itself - its liberal environment.

As Head of the Ukrainian Government, I support the current initiative of our Baltic partners, who launched the process of investigating crimes of communism.

The communist regime and the Russian chauvinism, sooner or later, but inevitably won’t escape justice and international tribunal.

The Holodomor took place not only because the enemy attacked us. The first prerequisite of the Holodomor was our inability to protect our homeland. We must remember once for all that only our Ukrainian state is capable to protect the lives and future of its people.

The second prerequisite of the Holodomor is disunity and internal pride, which weakens the nation and hampers to muster all strength up.

The third prerequisite is that all of us are easily tempted by big promises to avoid hard work. But only work can bring us freedom and prosperity.

Holodomor is a penetrating theme of our existence and mentality. In person, each citizen must realize that our only shield against any threat appears our personal active involvement in the development and protection of Ukraine.

"I am participating in the fate of the state" - everyone has to perceive these words.

The national memory of the Holodomor tragedy should force us to unite and muster all strength up. Nobody but us can save Ukraine.

During the Holodomor we were dying as we were Ukrainians. Today we are capable to survive as we remain and will always be Ukrainians. As one strong nation. Avoiding internal squabbles. Avoiding beating the air. Avoiding irresolution of mind.

The tragedy of the Holodomor is of paramount universal importance. Over 70 countries around the globe have recognized the historical fact of the Holodomor. We can speak with assurance these are the countries that honor the memory of the Holodomor, and they are a true coalition of higher human values, democracy and humanism.

Any association of states makes sense and has the future if it is based on values. Our values are freedom and respect for human being. This is the faith in human dignity and decent life for everyone.

I believe in such Ukraine. It is being born now. It is becoming a strong, stable, confident Ukraine.

I believe in Ukraine, free from external threat, free from fear and poverty. I believe in Ukraine that will overcome the current challenges.

Let's be strong. Let's be wise. Let’s be free. Then we will do everything, even impossible.

May God protect Ukraine, our army and our state.