The Upper House of the Irish Parliament on Thursday approved the recognition of the Holodomor as the Ukrainian extermination and genocide of millions of people during the 1930s in the era of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
«I thank the Irish Senate, Seanad Éireann, for recognizing the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people. Having survived the Great Famine in the past, Ireland knows the horror of famine and shares our pain. We will always remember this friendly move,» Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba reacted to the decision on his Twitter profile.
The Ukrainian Embassy in the country, for its part, has called the move «historic». «Ireland is one of our closest friends who is not afraid to call a spade a spade,» it has indicated on the same social network.
With this decision, Ireland joins other countries, such as Romania, that have recognized the Holodomor, whose commemoration is celebrated next November 28, as a genocide of the Ukrainian people, a great famine between 1932 and 1933 that caused the death of several million people, as reported by the UNIAN news agency.
