Kogutyak: It’s important to emphasize that Russia’s war has lasted over 10 years, not just 1,000 days

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been ongoing for more than 10 years, not just 1,000 days. This will be the central message of the rallies organized by Ukrainian communities as part of the global advocacy campaign by the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) titled “Remembering the Holodomor – the genocide of Ukrainians continues.”

This was announced by Volodymyr Kogutyak, UWC Vice President for Western Europe and Association of Ukrainians in France (AUF) Vice President, and Chair of the UWC Advocacy Committee, in an interview with Suspilne Novyny.

“Today, Russian propaganda abroad is extremely powerful, and if we focus solely on the 1,000-day mark, the occupiers may argue that the war started 1,000 days ago, and before that, it was merely a civil war,” Kogutyak said.

As part of this large-scale advocacy campaign, the UWC will commemorate two key anniversaries: the 1,000 days of the war on Nov. 19 and the anniversary of the Holodomor on Nov. 23, Kogutyak added.

“These are two major, highly significant dates. We’ve decided to combine them into one major event on Saturday, Nov. 23,” said the UWC Vice President.

In addition, the UWC is engaging with European leaders to emphasize that Ukraine’s struggle has lasted much longer than just 1,000 days.

“We will particularly highlight that the war began 10 years ago, and the genocide of Ukrainians began in 1932 and continues to this day,” Kogutyak said.

As reported earlier, UWC President Paul Grod is currently on a visit to four northern European countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The goal of the mission is to strengthen support for Ukraine, address pressing issues facing Ukrainian refugees, and raise awareness of key humanitarian and historical issues.