In Ukraine, May 8 officially to be Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism
From next year, Ukraine will mark the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism on May 8, and it will be a day off, Ukrainian MP and Deputy Chair of Parliamentary Finance Committee Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on Telegram on May 29.
"From now on, May 8 is officially a day off and the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II of 1939-1945," his message reads.
A total of 317 Ukrainian MPs voted in favour of the law.
This year, for the first timed Ukraine celebrated Europe Day instead of Victory Day on May 9 after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree scrapping the Soviet-era holiday.
The act of unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht signed on May 7 in the French city of Reims entered into force on May 8, 1945. Europe celebrates the Day of Victory (V Day) on this day, when the war on the continent came to the end.
May 8 and 9 are the annual international days of the Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War.
Public organisations in Ukraine have started to mark May 8 as the day of the end of the Second World War since the 2000s. Ukraine's Institute of National Remembrance and Culture Ministry supported this initiative at the governmental level in 2014.
Then-president Petro Poroshenko introduced in 2015 May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, however May 9 has remained the Day of Victory over Nazism and a day off.
MP Volodymyr Viatrovych introduced in 2022 a bill to the parliament to abolish May 9 and establish May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II, and proposed to celebrate Europe Day on May 9 alongside the European Union.
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