Today we commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War II, known as Victory in Europe Day. On May 8, 1945, celebrations of the end of the World War broke out in Europe. Every year, this holiday is an opportunity to remember those who gave their lives in that terrible war.
This historic event created the conditions for the creation of the United Nations to protect future generations from the hardships of war and preserve international peace and security. No one doubts that the great deal for the defeat of fascism goes to the nations of the former Soviet Union and its Western allies.
These days, however, the commemoration of the end of the world war makes more sense than ever. We are witnessing a world in which devastating wars and local conflicts are taking place. The most terrible since the end of World War II is the war in Ukraine.
It is a proof that the world has not fully learned from the failures, when international law and treaties became a dead value and when egoistic impulses and destructive expansion were prioritized at the expense of a weaker neighbor.
Pre-war Czechoslovakia, whose borders were guaranteed by the Versailles peace system, also bore the tragic consequences of the violation of international law on the eve of World War II. Further developments, however, showed that the German aggressor unleashed the liquidation of Czechoslovakia within its borders and later the Second World War under the invented pretext of protecting the German national minority.
More than fifty years later – in 1991 – the borders of Ukraine were confirmed by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union with the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Well, in exchange for guarantees of its sovereignty, Ukraine gave up the arsenal of nuclear weapons that inherited from the Soviet Union. Under the fabricated pretext of protecting the Russian-speaking population, Russia launched in 2022 a war to wipe Ukraine off the map.
Unfortunately, this year’s victory celebrations are for the second year in a row overshadowed by the dreadful war event in Ukraine.
