Demjanjuk trial shows double standards, lawyer says‏

A lawyer for John Demjanjuk, accused of helping to murder 27,900 Jews at a Nazi death camp, has accused German prosecutors of double standards. Mr Demjanjuk, 89, denies he was a guard at Sobibor camp, in wartime Poland.

As the case began in Munich, his legal team said in previous cases Germans assigned to the camp had been cleared.

The Ukraine-born accused, who was extradited to Germany from the US in May, was twice carried into court, first in a wheelchair then a stretcher.
Doctors have said Mr Demjanjuk is in poor health, and asked that hearings be limited to two 90-minute sessions a day.

Over 60 years after the end of World War II, this may be Germany's last big war crimes trial.

Click here for complete story.

Source: BBC

Ukraine leader calls '30s famine Soviet genocide

Standing before a monument dedicated to the millions who perished from the Great Famine of the 1930s, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko marked the famine's anniversary with a fresh appeal for the world to recognize the tragedy as an act of genocide by then-Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

The ongoing effort by Mr. Yushchenko to revive a history long suppressed by the Soviet Union, and still dismissed by many in Russia, could well define his presidency.

"We did almost the impossible," the leader told a large crowd on Saturday gathered near the memorial on an overcast day. "We saved and returned to the people the truth about the Great Famine of 1932-33. We returned it from the abyss, from the precipice, from that which fails to return."

Ukraine's Soviet-era archives, opened to the public by Mr. Yushchenko, has allowed historians to take a fresh look at the Holodomor, or death by hunger. It refers to the famine that killed between 3 million and 7 million Ukrainians, mostly from the country's central and eastern regions, in 1932 to '33. Some estimates of the toll run as high as 10 million.

Mr. Yushchenko and scholars say Stalin ordered the famine as a way of breaking the Ukrainian people and its leadership. Both had serious disagreements with the Soviet leader over his collectivization policies and were unwilling to meet quotas that he had set for the agriculturally rich Ukraine.

Click here to read complete article.

Source: Washington Post

Remembering Ukrainian genocide - Lubomyr Luciuk

This year, Nov. 28 - tomorrow - is the date on which the Holodomor's victims will be hallowed. Thousands of postcards bearing Lemkin's image and citing his words have been mailed to diplomats
worldwide, asking them to acknowledge what was arguably the greatest crime against humanity to befoul 20th-century European history. There is no doubt that Lemkin knew the famine in Soviet Ukraine was
genocidal. If the world chooses to ignore what he said than what this good man fathered - the word "genocide" - will lose all meaning.

This was article written by Lubomyr Luciuk and was published in Montreal Gazette on November 27, 2009. Click here to read full article.

Kyiv decides to light 30,000 candles near memorial to victims of Holodomor on Nov. 28, 2009

The Kyiv city state administration has decided to light 30,000 candles on the bank vault in Glory Park near the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors on Sichnevoho Povstannia (Mazepy) Street. Anatolii Holubchenko, the first deputy head of the Kyiv city state administration, announced this to the press.

"There are 30,000 candles," he said.

According to the first deputy head of the city administration, the Kyivzelenbud municipal company on Friday started setting saucers for the candles and will start lighting the candles at 09:00 on Nov. 28.

Ukraine observes the 76th anniversary of the Holodomor famine on Nov. 28, 2009.

According to various estimates, the Holodomor artificial famine killed between three million and seven million of innocent people in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 alone.


Source: Kyiv Post

This was the last part of our six part series, this is the bare minimum which we, as Canadians, should do not only for the millions of victims, but more importantly, for our descendants who must always remember the Holodomor and heighten the international community's sensitivity to the reoccurrence of similar tragedies.

All Canadians are invited to join the Ukrainian community in remembrance.

Let's reveal the truth about the Holodomor to the world!

The Famine as Genocide/Quebec

On Wednesday, November 25, 2009 The Quebec National Assembly unanimously accepted the introduction of a Bill recognizing the 1932-1933 Famine as Genocide. The bill was introduced by Louise Beaudoin, P.Q. MNA for Rosemont riding. It was received with applause by all parties and official gallery observers!

UCC Montreal has been assisting on this historic presentation of a Bill with Louise Beaudoin since August 2009, after Hon. Louise Beaudoin declared her intention to have the Famine recognized as Genocide at the UCC's annual Independence Banquet. She was invited as a special guest to Banquet in August.

Special thank you to Roman Karpishka, Prof. Roman Serbyn, Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova, Hryhorij Kowryha, Yourko Kulyckyj, Marta Bilyk for all their tremendous work! This could not have have been achieved without their continuous hard work.

140 special information packages about the 1932-33 Famine-Genocide for members of The National Assembly of Quebec as well as for members of the press, were prepared in advance, and delivered by car to Quebec. It included a covering letter by Marika Putko, president.The package also included a French-language DVD copy of the award-winning documentary Harvest of Despair. (The UCC National Holodomor Awareness Committee assisted in receiving appropriate materials.)

Wednesday 7am, a bus left from Montreal to Quebec with 57 members of the Ukrainian community to witness and support the historic event. Caisse Ukrainienne Desjardins helped cover rental of the bus for which we gratefully thank them. Roman Karpishka coordinated the organization of the bus delegation. A special presentation of the just released book titled Raphael Lemkin:Soviet Genocide in Ukraine (with Lemkin's article in 28 Languages), was also presented by Prof. Roman Serbyn in Quebec.
Several articles have already appeared in the press about this event.

Again, I wish to sincerely thank the KYK Committee for working so hard to make this happen.

Marika Putko, President
UCC Montreal/Quebec

Statement by the President on Ukrainian Holodomor Remembrance Day

Seventy six years ago, millions of innocent Ukrainians – men, women, and children – starved to death as a result of the deliberate policies of the regime of Joseph Stalin. Tomorrow, we join together, Ukrainian-Americans and all Americans, to commemorate these tragic events and to honor the many victims.

From 1932 to 1933, the Ukrainian people suffered horribly during what has become known as the Holodomor – “death by hunger” – due to the Stalin regime’s seizure of crops and farms across Ukraine. Ukraine had once been a breadbasket of Europe. Ukrainians could have fed themselves and saved millions of lives, had they been allowed to do so. As we remember this calamity, we pay respect to millions of victims who showed tremendous strength and courage. The Ukrainian people overcame the horror of the great famine and have gone on to build a free and democratic country.

Remembering the victims of the man-made catastrophe of Holodomor provides us an opportunity to reflect upon the plight of all those who have suffered the consequences of extremism and tyranny around the world. We hope that the remembrance of Holodomor will help prevent such tragedy in the future.

I was chosen by your dead - Legacy of the Famine: Ukraine as a postgenocidal society (James Mace)

The perpetrators' motive was simple, and all the documents and later research have not changed the overall portrait of the events I first presented in 1982 International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv. I remain convinced that, for Stalin to have complete centralized power in his hands, he
found it necessary to physically destroy the second largest Soviet republic, meaning the annihilation of the Ukrainian peasantry, Ukrainian intelligentsia, Ukrainian language, and history as understood by the people; to do away with Ukraine and things Ukrainian as such. The calculation was very simple, very primitive: no people, therefore, no separate country, and thus no problem. Such a policy is GENOCIDE in the classic sense of the word.

Click here to read the complete article written by the late James Mace in 2003. One of my favorite articles that I came accross. In the late 1980s, Prof. James Mace was executive director of the US commission that collected evidence and eyewitness accounts from survivors, who survived the Golgotha of Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. This is PART V of the six part series dedicated to the memory of the victims of Ukrainian Holodomor 1932 - 33.

Welsh hero of Ukraine recognised

Ukraine now uses Gareth Jones's ground breaking reports in its efforts to secure international recognition of the famine, known in Ukrainian as the Holodomor, meaning genocide.

Jones's reports of expropriations, famine and deaths at a time when the West was buying cheap Soviet grain and other foods did not change their minds.

Despite his reports having little impact, Jones was accused of espionage and banned from the Soviet Union. He went to the Far East and, according to his family, was murdered in suspicious circumstances in Inner Mongolia in 1935.

He was just 30 years old. It wasn't until decades later, in 2008, that he and Malcolm Muggeridge were posthumously awarded the Ukrainian Order Of Freedom medal in a ceremony at Westminster Central Hall in London.

Click here to read complete story about Gareth Jones - "Hero of Ukraine"
This is PART IV of our six part series dedicated to the tragic history of Ukrainian Holodomor which was perpetrated by the Stalin Soviet machine.

SOVIET GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

FAMOUS ESSAY by Rafael Lemkin, New York, NY, 1953 [Text was probably originally composed for Lemkin’s address at the 1953 Ukrainian Famine commemoration in New York. Later Lemkin added it to the material he was gathering for his elaborate History of Genocide which was never published. Ed, Roman Serbyn.] "Holodomor Studies" Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Winter-Spring 2009, Pages 3-8 Charles Schlacks, Publisher, Idyllwild, CA

These attacks on the Soul have also had and will continue to have a serious effect on the Brain of Ukraine, for it is the families of the clergy that have traditionally supplied a large part of the intellectuals, while the priests themselves have been the leaders of the villages, their wives the heads of the charitable organizations. The religious orders ran schools, took care of much of the organized charities.

The mass murder of peoples and of nations that has characterized the advance of the Soviet Union into Europe is not a new feature of their policy of expansionism, it is not an innovation devised simply to bring uniformity out of the diversity of Poles, Hungarians, Balts, Romanians – presently disappearing into the fringes of their empire. Instead, it has been a long-term characteristic even of the internal policy of the Kremlin – one which the present masters had ample precedent for in the operations of Tsarist Russia. It is indeed an indispensable step in the process of “union” that the Soviet leaders fondly hope will produce the “Soviet Man,” the “Soviet Nation,” and to achieve that goal, that unified nation, the leaders of the Kremlin will gladly destroy the nations and the cultures that have long inhabited Eastern Europe.

Click here to read complete article. This is PART III of our six part series dedicated to the 10 million victims of Ukrainian Holodomor

Bill 390 - An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day

Bill 390

An Act to proclaim Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day

Introduced by - Madam Louise Beaudoin (Member for Rosemont)


EXPLANATORY NOTES

The purpose of this bill is to proclaim the fourth Saturday in November in each year Ukranian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.


Bill 390
AN Act TO PROCLAIM UKRAINIAN FAMINE AND GENOCIDE (HOLODOMOR) MEMORIAL DAY

AS the Holodomor is the name given to the famine and genocide that occurred in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933;

As millions of Ukrainians perished as victims of a famine deliberately induced by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin to quash the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a free and independent Ukraine;

AS the President of Ukraine issued a Presidential Decree on 26 November 1998 establishing the fourth Saturday in November as a National Day of Remembrance for the victims of this mass atrocity;

AS, in recent years, a number of countries have in various ways acknowledged the Holodomor in Ukraine as historical fact;

AS there is a Ukrainian community in Québec;

AS our fellow citizens of Ukrainian origin care deeply about commemorating the victims of the Ukrainian famine and genocide of 1932 and 1933;

AS Quebecers are committed to defending democratic values and human rights and as they reject intolerance and ethnic exclusion;

THE PARLIAMENT OF QUÉBEC ENACTS AS FOLLOWS:

1. The fourth Saturday in November in each year is proclaimed Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day.

2. This Act comes into force on (insert the date of assent to this Act).

Source: National Assembly of Quebec

Ukrainian genocide will be commemorated in Quebec

QUEBEC — Members of the Quebec provincial legislature voted unanimously to approve on first reading a bill to commemorate the Ukrainian genocide in the 1930s, when Soviet dictator Josef Stalin withheld food from Ukraine, leading to millions of deaths.


The bill was presented by Parti Quebecois member Louise Beaudoin.


Once the bill receives final approval, the fourth Saturday in November will be designated to commemorate the Ukrainian genocide, known as the Holodomor.


If passed, Quebec will be the fourth province to mark the genocide. Alberta passed similar legislation in October 2008.


Also, in May 2008, the Harper government said it would recognize the Holodomor as genocide.


The genocide, in 1932 and 1933, was Stalin's attempt to subdue the Ukrainian people by systematically starving them and restricting travel beyond their villages. The exact number of victims remains unclear.


With files from Canwest News Service

Source: Montreal Gazette

HOLODOMOR – THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE

The “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide” provides the most authoritative definition of genocide, which has been integrated into national and international laws. The document acknowledges that genocides occurred in all periods of history, and in times of war and peace. Article II defines genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups, as such.”

Genocide does not imply total destruction or only physical extermination. Article II lists three lethal actions: killing, causing bodily harm, and imposing conditions of life leading to physical destruction. Two measures are non-fatal: preventing births and transferring children. Ukrainians were victims of all these atrocities, and the deportation of divided Ukrainian families to Russia falls under the last heading. There are no quantitative criteria for genocide, but it is assumed that the victims form a significant part of the target group. The extinction of the Ukrainian population did not suit Stalin: Ukrainians comprised over 20 percent of the Soviet workforce and inhabited a strategic region. A partial extermination would suffice. Since there is consensus that several million Ukrainians perished, quibbling over the number of victims becomes irrelevant and only diverts attention from fundamental issues.

Click here for PART II of six part series, article by Professor Roman Serbyn.

LEMKIN: HOLODOMOR 'CLASSIC' GENOCIDE

We start our 6 part series dedicated to the inncocent victims of Ukraine’s Holodomor.

Rafael Lemkin who coined the term ‘genocide,’ called the Holodomor a classic case of Soviet genocide.

Only seven people came to bury him. He rests beneath a simple stone in New York’s Mount Hebron cemetery, the sole clue to his historical importance an inscription incised below his name - “Father Of The Genocide Convention.”

As a graduate student I was obliged to read his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress, frankly more door-stopper than page-turner. Nowadays, with advocates for “humanitarian intervention” shilling the notion of a “duty to intervene” whenever and wherever necessary to “stop genocide,” Dr. Raphael Lemkin’s name and words are better known. After all he fathered the term “genocide” by combining the root words –geno (Greek for family or race) and –cidium (Latin for killing) then doggedly lobbied United Nation member states until they adopted a Convention on Genocide, on Dec. 9, 1948, his crowning achievement.

Click here to read complete article by Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk

Russian News Agencies Spread Saakashvili’s Response to Putin’s Joke

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili took Putin’s joke as an outrage of Georgian and Ukrainian people.
According to Russian TV-channels, Mikheil Saakashvili made the corresponding statement on the Ukrainian TV-channel.
‘Putin was threatening to hang me with a part of my body which I can’t name publicly, though which is very important for every man and even woman, especially for politicians. Now he is talking about my necktie. It’s good news. He has moved up to a necktie and I feel more secure now’, Saakashvili said.
According to him, Russian Prime Minister Putin’s statement outraged Ukraine and Georgia.
Mikheil Saakashvili stated Georgia and Ukraine are following the way of European development and Russia wouldn’t be able to return these countries back to the Soviet Union.
According to Russian news agencies, at a press-conference, held in Yalta on 20 November, Vladimir Putin advised his Ukrainian counterpart not to put on a necktie at the supper with Mikheil Saakashvili, indicating to the BBC video shot in August, 2008.

Click here to view video: Putin lampoons 'Saakashvili tie' at gas talks with Ukraine RT

Source: The Georgian Times

Lemkin: Holodomor ‘classic’ genocide

Likewise overlooked were Lemkin’s views on Communist crimes against humanity. In a 1953 lecture in New York City, for example, he described the “destruction of the Ukrainian nation” as the “classic example of Soviet genocide,” adding insightfully:“the Ukrainian is not and never has been a Russian. His culture, his temperament, his language, his religion, are all different...to eliminate (Ukrainian) nationalism...the Ukrainian peasantry was sacrificed...a famine was necessary for the Soviet and so they got one to order...if the Soviet program succeeds completely, if the intelligentsia, the priest, and the peasant can be eliminated [then] Ukraine will be as dead as if every Ukrainian were killed, for it will have lost that part of it which has kept and developed its culture, its beliefs, its common ideas, which have guided it and given it a soul, which, in short, made it a nation...This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.”
For complete article, click here.

Source: Kyiv Post

*INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN RECALLING GENOCIDAL GREAT FAMINE LAUNCHED*

UCCLF - International campaign recalling genocidal great famine launched

(Ottawa, 16 November 2009)

An educational campaign recalling the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, was launched today. Thousands of postcards are being sent to embassies and consulates internationally, urging governments to officially recognize that this famine was an act of genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin. Canada is one of the few countries that has already recognized the Holodomor as genocidal.

Drawing upon the writings of Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the "father of the [UN] Genocide Convention," who described the "destruction of the Ukrainian nation" as the "classic example of Soviet genocide," the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation and partner groups around the world are mailing postcards featuring a pastel drawing of Lemkin and an excerpt from his 1953 speech "Soviet Genocide in the Ukraine," an effort timed to coincide with the annual day of mourning for the Holodomor's victims (28 November).

Commenting, Professor Lubomyr Luciuk, editor of Holodomor: Reflections on the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine, said:

"Many millions of men, women and children suffered agonizing deaths in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 during what was arguably one of the greatest acts of genocide to befoul 20th century European history. To this day there are Holodomor-deniers attempting to obfuscate what happened, continuing to cover up this Communist crime against humanity. This educational effort is therefore aimed at reminding governments everywhere that the father of the United Nations Convention on Genocide was personally convinced of the genocidal character of Soviet rule in Ukraine. We are also calling upon countries that believe in upholding the relevance of the UN Genocide Convention to officially recognize the truth of what happened during the Holodomor."


To contact Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, please e-mail: luciuk@uccla.ca

House of Bears - Orysia Dawydiak's first novel.

Everyone is invited to the launch of House of Bears, a new novel by Orysia Dawydiak.

WHEN: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 7-9 p.m.
WHERE: Haviland Club, 2 Haviland Street, Charlottetown

House of Bears is Orysia Dawydiak's first novel.
http://www.acornpresscanada.com/book/house-bears
When Luba Kassim reluctantly returns home to Northern Ontario, the strained relationship with her traditional Ukrainian mother only heightens her feelings of alienation and isolation. A family crisis reunites her extended family and reignites old rivalries and the pain of long-held family secrets. Slowly, Luba begins piecing together her family’s unspoken past, starting in the 1930s in Ukraine, followed by emigration to England and settlement in Canada. In the process, she uncovers some startling truths about her own identity, and learns that she and her mother have much more in common than she thinks.

Orysia works at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, and lives on a small farm on Prince Edward Island's north shore where she raises sheep and dogs. She writes books on livestock protection dogs, and has also written award-winning fiction for children and young adults.

Author reading and signing - Music - Refreshments
Everyone welcome!

For more information, call (902) 892-8151
Published by Acorn Press, Charlottetown
acornpresscanada.com
ISBN 978-1-894838-34-4 / 6 x 9 / 320 pp / 2009 / pb / $22.95

1930s journalist Gareth Jones to have story retold

The story of Jones, a devout, non-comformist teetotaller from Barry, often has elements of Indiana Jones and Zelig.
Rory Finnan, a lecturer in Ukrainian studies at Cambridge, called him "a true hero"."He is a remarkable historical figure and it is also remarkable that he is not well known. Jones was the only journalist who risked his name and reputation to expose the Holodomor to the world."
Click here for complete story.

Also visit these fabulous sites:

UKEMONDE - Gareth Jones, hero of Ukraine

Ukrainian Canadian - True extent of Ukraine famine revealed in British journalist’s diaries


Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones - Hero of Ukraine (1905 -1935) A Man Who Knew Too Much...

Source: The Guardian

Medvedev calls for economy reform ????

The Russian president gave a bleak assessment of the current situation and there was much in the speech that implied deep criticism of Mr Putin, reports the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow. Click here for full story.
Does this mean the KGB apparatchiks working for Putin will start plans on elimination of Mr. Medvedev, as they have to reporters and anyone who stands up against his (Putin's) corrupt regime?

Source: BBC

'Russian King Lear' did the world a huge favour

Twenty years later, the world owes Gorbachev an enormous debt of gratitude for ending the Cold War, and freeing Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Thank our lucky stars Gorbachev was in power when the Soviet Union met its inevitable collapse -- or we could have faced World War III. - Another great article by Eric Margolis, click here to read it in its entirety.

Kremlin's Russifying “internationalists”

Another great article I came across was in The Day newspaper. All those Kremlin Politburo “internationalists” were outright demagogues and chauvinists who utterly hated the ethnic sentiments of the peoples that made up the USSR, with Ukraine probably topping the list. Click here to read the complete article.

Source; The Day

Does Ukraine stand a chance?

Ukraine, regrettably, failed to use its chance. One can come up with a long list of reasons, including historical and political traps concealed in latter-day history; questions like whether the Europeans knew Ukraine for what it was all about; an analysis of our mistakes and ways to correct them.

Read full article here.

Source: The Day

And the wall came tumbling down ...

This process has not been without its painful moments, and there will be more to come. But the enlargement of Europe remains the most obvious consequence of the fall in November 1989. Looked at from the point of view of those former Soviet states that still yearn to breathe free of Russian hegemony, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, this enlargement is both seductive and incomplete.
Click here to read full article.

Source: FT

Flu panic stoked by political malpractice

Very interesting article in Kyiv Post about the politics behind the swine flu pandemic in Ukraine. Click here to read the article. Also CBC had done a similar piece on this, click here for the article.

Sources: Kyiv Post://www.kyivpost.com & CBC

Ukraine Flu Epidemic Day 6

You can get the latest about the HINI flu crisis in Ukraine by visiting Greetings from Ukraine Blog Michelle Knisley is a missionary serving with CrossRoads Foundation. Her Blog also has links to other news sources regarding the flu pendemic.

Seventy-one people die of flu

While her slogan for the Presedential Elections in 2010 is "I am the only on working" it seems people in Ukraine are dying of H1N1, with reports of over 70 dead so far. How prepared was her government to face this pandemic? Does not look to well. And people want to elect her Predident? First her incompetent government handling of the World Finacial Crisis, now this.
Here is a recap of stories on the crisis in Ukraine:

Seventy-one people die of flu, acute respiratory infections - Interfax Ukraine
Panic in Ukraine over swine flu - BBC News
Swine flu hits Ukrainian election campaign - EurActiv
Ukrainian Hospitals To Distribute Tamiflu For Free - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Ukraine provides PACE with Holodomor proofs

Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has met Mevlut Cavusoglu, the PACE Vice President and rapporteur for problems on the famine in the former Soviet Union, the SBU press-service reports.

Nalyvaichenko, by authorization of an investigator, informed the PACE official about the progress of investigation into a criminal case on genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933. The Ukrainian investigation established that genocide was committed by way of creating an artificial famine using such mechanisms as isolation of Ukraine's territory by special armed military units; inscription of districts and localities into the so-called 'black boards', blockade by troops, ban on people's movement outside the bounds of these areas, full seizure of foodstuffs and seed stocks, trade ban; restriction of free movement of peasants with the aim of looking for foodstuffs. In the course of the investigation, Ukraine received absolute evidences of committing crimes against humanity by the USSR top officials. Genocide in Ukraine in 1932-33 is proved by 3,685 Soviet classified documents, including with Joseph Stalin's signature, and many other papers, as well as 933 mass burial places of genocide victims. The SBU official also said that in order to collect proofs of genocide of Ukrainians in other countries, in full compliance with the international law, the SBU investigators have submitted petitions on providing legal assistance to law enforcement agencies of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Italy, the United States, Germany, Austria and Poland. According to different estimates, the Great Famine (Holodomor) took from 7 to 10 million lives in Ukraine, including around 4 million children, which was 25% of the country's population at that time.

Source: NRCU