US on Holodomor: today once again Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine’s identity
The United States Department of State published a statement on the anniversary of the Holodomor in which Washington condemned this crime and expressed support for the Ukrainian people.
"This month we join Ukrainians around the world in marking the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, when millions of innocent Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death by the regime of Josef Stalin. The Soviet Union’s barbaric seizure of Ukrainian land and crops was undertaken with the deliberate political goal of subjugating the Ukrainian people and nation. This catastrophic, man-made famine was one of the most atrocious acts of the twentieth century and a brutal reminder of the crimes of communism,” said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
Her statement further reads, “Today, Ukrainians are once again dying as a result of Russia’s attempts to destroy the identity and Western aspirations of the people of Ukraine.”
Nauert asserted that Russia’s on-going aggression in eastern Ukraine has resulted in more than 10,000 deaths, but that that would not vanquish the resilient Ukrainian spirit, “nor dampen Ukrainians’ desire for a better future.”
The State Department stressed that the USA remembers the Holodomor’s millions of innocent victims. They reaffirm their unwavering support for Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the Ukrainian people’s right to chart their own course.
On October 4, the US Senate introduced a bipartisan resolution recognizing the Holodomor of 1932 as genocide of the Ukrainian people. The operative paragraph of the document includes the Senate’s recognition of conclusions of the US Commission on the Ukraine Famine from April 22, 1988 that “Stalin and his circle committed genocide against Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933.”
Today, the event is recognized by twenty US states as genocide of the Ukrainian people.