Every year on the last Saturday of November, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the Holodomor. The man-made famine was one of the methods used to extend communist rule across Soviet Ukraine. The so-called struggle against the “kulaks” and the resistance of the Ukrainian people resulted in the deaths of over 7 million Ukrainians from Ukraine, the Kuban, and the North Caucasus.

While Ukrainians had all their grain confiscated, and later their last remaining food, in Zhmerynka—which was not affected by the famine—there was a surplus of grain that was stored under unsuitable conditions.

In a letter from Poltava Oblast dated March 18, 1933, a resident of the famine-stricken region wrote: “…I had enough food until the famine struck, but we didn’t meet the grain procurement quota, and the brigade took everything to Pylypivka. We were left completely hungry, and so day after day we’ve been getting by on the grains or flour we bought or traded for…”.

To conceal the facts of the crimes, the Kremlin blamed Germany. They claimed that Germany was spreading propaganda and that there was no famine in reality. 

Despite attempts to deny the crimes, foreign journalists took an interest in the situation in Ukraine. Initially, they were placed under surveillance, and later, foreign journalists were banned from visiting Ukrainian territory. In one of the articles by a Czech professor who managed to witness the famine firsthand, it is stated: 

«…“…In 1927, Russia lived in abundance; this year, its largest cities are living in poverty. There is a shortage of everything there. Everywhere there are endless lines; the food shortage is worse than it ever was here during the war. There is a threat of an even greater catastrophe, because the harvest is poor. Not as a result of a natural disaster, but because the fields are uncultivated…”…»

In the context of the Holodomor, instances of cannibalism—brought about by the famine itself—are often mentioned. A mother from Donetsk Oblast writes the following in a letter to her son::

 «“Dear son! What’s going on—are you alive, or are you no longer in this world? We’re living in misery; people are eating each other here, and there are many empty houses where everyone has already died. Now your relatives are next in line. We’re barely hanging on until harvest time, though it won’t be ours. We’re begging you—write and tell us if you’ll ever come home, because I’m old now and can’t manage anymore. I gave my land to the collective; I have half a desyatina of garden left, and they took half of that away from me because I’m not strong enough to work it. And people here are dropping like flies, eating leaves and chaff. I’ve been eating that myself for two winters now. People are dying in the streets, and they’re buried without a priest, five bodies in a single grave. Please, at least reply to this letter, because we may not have the chance to write to each other again. Tell me how you’re living there, if you have bread, because here 4 pounds of bread costs 20 rubles. You have a lot of news, but you probably already know it. We have no livestock left in the village; only a few people still have a cow.”»

While the Holodomor was unfolding in eastern Ukraine, an assassination plot was being hatched in the west against the head of the Soviet consulate in Lviv.

Circumstances unfolded in such a way that they succeeded in killing Oleksiy Maylov, the head of the consulate’s office, who was a representative of Stalin and one of the organisers of the Holodomor. The assassination was carried out by Mykola Lemyk—a young man who, inspired by the ideology of the OUN, had joined its combat unit.

Mykola’s words before the shot were: “This is from the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists—for the suffering and death of our brothers and sisters, for the famine in Ukraine, for all the cruelty…”

The assassination of one of the organisers of the 1932–1933 Holodomor led not only to the spread of information about the famine among Ukrainians in the Dnieper region but also to widespread attention from the global public.

It is important to note that Russia is currently using famine as a form of genocide Residents of the occupied territories had no access to food for several months following the full-scale invasion. 

In December 2021, Russia was preparing to steal grain and was purchasing trucks for transport—it was exported from the occupied territories on a daily basis. They planned to starve Ukrainians again, just as they did in 1921–1923, 1932–1933, and 1946–1947.  

It is important to remember that the imperial forms and methods of establishing Russia’s regime in the occupied territories remain unchanged. The same genocide of Ukrainians is currently being carried out through starvation, executions, murders, and torture in captivity.

And this will not stop until the enemy is destroyed!