Day of Defenders of Ukraine: honoring soldiers at the front, veterans, and the memory of those who gave their lives in the fight against Russian aggression
Kyiv • UNN
On October 1, Ukraine is holding events to mark the Day of Defenders of Ukraine. A nationwide minute of silence will be held at 9:00 a.m., and traffic will be temporarily stopped on Independence Square and Khreshchatyk in Kyiv.
Today, on October 1, events are taking place in Ukraine on the occasion of the Day of Defenders, UNN reports.
The Day of Defenders of Ukraine was launched in 2015 on October 14. The date was not chosen by chance, as it was the feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is considered the patron saint of Ukrainian Cossacks. October 14 is also the official day of the founding of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In 2021, the holiday was transformed into the Day of Defenders. And after the Orthodox Church of Ukraine switched to the New Julian calendar, it was moved to October 1.
Today, at nine o'clock in the morning, a nationwide minute of silence will be held. All people are urged to stop and honor the memory of all fallen soldiers.
From 8:55 to 9:05 in Kyiv, National Police officers will stop traffic on Independence Square and Khreshchatyk Street at the intersection with the Heavenly Hundred Heroes' Alley.
The number of active servicemen in the Armed Forces is currently around 800,000, with about one million more in reserve.
The number of women in the Armed Forces is 67,000, 48,000 of whom are military personnel.
In February of this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 31,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed in the two years of the full-scale invasion.
Since 1999, the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks has been celebrated on the Day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On October 1, events are also held to mark Veteran's Day. The event was introduced in 2004 to honor veterans of the Second World War.
Nowadays, the meaning of this event has changed - in 2014, when Russia started an undeclared war against Ukraine, occupying Crimea and supporting separatists in Donbas, many modern veterans appeared in Ukraine who defended our country from Russian invaders.
Today, there are 1.2 million veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war in Ukraine. Experts believe that after the war is over, their number may increase to 4-6 million.
