Every year on August 5, Ukraine honors the memory of the victims of the Great Terror—the mass political repressions of 1937–1938. The starting point of the Great Terror is considered the date NKVD Order No. 00447 of July 30, 1937, came into force, executing the Politburo Resolution of July 2, 1937, P51/94 "On Anti-Soviet Elements."
Following this, the communist regime introduced execution quotas and extrajudicial bodies ("troikas") to eliminate "anti-Soviet elements," divided into two categories: Category 1 meant immediate execution; Category 2 meant imprisonment in NKVD GULAG camps. For Ukraine, which included the Moldavian Autonomous Republic, the Category 1 quota was initially set at 26,150 people, and in 1938 it was increased to 83,122. It is impossible to name all those executed—their numbers are beyond count.
The largest mass burial sites of Ukrainians remain the Bykivnia Graves near Kyiv, where the names of over 20,000 executed people have been identified, and the Sandarmokh tract in Karelia, where out of 9,500 people shot during nine days in the autumn of 1937, about 300 were tied to Ukraine. Among them were prominent cultural figures; educators; medical workers; clergy; agronomists; as well as officers, government officials, and diplomats of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) who contributed significantly to its statehood and international standing, including leaders of the UNR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Today, Ukraine honors its lost generation, its Executed Renaissance—all those whose lives were taken by Soviet executioners.
These include poet, literary scholar, and leader of the "Neoclassicists" Mykola Zerov; prose writer and translator Valerian Pidmohylny; poet, founder, and leader of Ukrainian Futurism Mykhailo Semenko; poet, prose writer, critic, and co-founder of VAPLITE Mike Yohansen; prominent playwright Mykola Kulish; poet and translator Marko Voronyi; writer, translator, and publicist Hryhorii Epyk; innovative director and founder of the experimental Berezil Theater Les Kurbas; monumental artist and founder of "Boychukism" Mykhailo Boychuk; artist and graphic designer Vasyl Sedlyar; graphic artist and woodcut master Sofiya Nalepynska-Boychuk; and many others.
The terror aimed to intimidate these people, erase them from our nation's memory, silence their voices, and cut short not only their lives but also their impact on shaping Ukrainian identity.
Today it is obvious: this terror failed. Ukraine remembers, values, and takes pride in its great figures whom the Great Terror could not destroy. Today, they stand with us, and their words, like weapons, stand alongside us against Russian aggression.
To the Russian leadership, which continues Moscow's imperial policy and Stalinist methods of terror, we respond with the words of Mykola Kulish: "We want our nation not to shine foreign boots. It's time! It's time to become free!"
The NKVD could execute Kulish at Sandarmokh, but it could not silence his words. They resound today, backed by the strength of Ukrainian arms, while our nation is free and will never shine Moscow's boots.
Remembering the victims of the Great Terror, we fight today to defeat aggression, violence, and repression—protecting our people from a repetition of the Great Terror and other horrific past crimes committed against Ukrainians. We express solidarity with all peoples who suffered from the Great Terror and Stalinist repressions.
On this day, we reiterate our demand for the Russian Federation to open its archives and unseal the truth about Soviet crimes, particularly the atrocities of the Great Terror. The names of both executioners and victims must be known. We demand an end to the persecution of researchers studying Stalinist repressions. Specifically, we demand freedom for Russian historian Yury Dmitriev, who revealed the horrors of Sandarmokh to the world and is currently imprisoned on fabricated charges.
Moscow’s war against truth continues the worst traditions of the Stalin era. As with the Great Terror, this policy must ultimately fail, truth must prevail, and evil must be punished. To this end, we call on the international community for unity and decisive joint action to increase pressure on the aggressor, end the war, and restore peace.