KIEV | BY NATALIA ZINETS AND PAVEL POLITYUK
(Reuters) -
Ukraine, in a break with tradition that is certain to rile Moscow, is ditching
the Soviet name for World War Two and aims to adopt the poppy, a mainly British
wartime symbol, to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
The moves, signaled by Prime
Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Wednesday, marked an attempt by Kiev to distance
itself from Moscow's Soviet-style celebrations, planned for May 9, as the
conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine drags on.
In another break with the Soviet past,
Kiev will align its calendar with that of its European allies by adding for the
first time May 8 - known in the West as Victory in Europe Day - as a national
holiday.
A decree signed by President Petro
Poroshenko fixed May 8 as a day for reconciliation between those Ukrainians who
fought only the Nazis with those who, after the war, went on to fight Soviet
rule also.
Ukraine will then mark Victory day on
May 9 with its own war veterans' march in Kiev and several other big cities.
Kiev, with most Western governments, is
boycotting the World War Two victory festivities in Moscow because of Russia's
role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies it is arming the rebels.
Kiev has announced plans for a sweeping
security operation involving tens of thousands of police across Ukraine to
guard against attacks by separatists or Russian agents during the festivities.
Yatseniuk, whose government is set on a
program of integration into the European mainstream following the ousting of a
Moscow-backed president in February 2014, urged people to wear a poppy during
the May victory celebrations in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities. He described
it as a "European symbol".
"Let all the other ribbons be worn
by the Russian Federation which claims it was Russia that won the Second World
War," Yatseniuk said.
Yatseniuk's phrasing made clear he
supported proposals to drop the Soviet name Great Patriotic War to describe the
conflict against Nazi Germany that in the West is generally referred to as the
Second World War or World War Two.
The remembrance poppy was initially
used, chiefly in Britain and among military veterans groups in its Commonwealth
allies including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to honor those killed in
the 1914-18 war.
But its use on remembrance day on
November 11 has been widened to commemorate armed service staff killed in all
conflicts since 1914, including World War Two.
The move is part of broader changes
undertaken by the pro-Western leadership to rid Ukraine of vestiges of Soviet
rule following the conflict in the east in which more than 6,100 people have
been killed.
Monuments to Soviet state founder
Vladimir Lenin are being removed or defiled and old Soviet street names
eulogizing Soviet heroes are being changed in many parts of the country.
"VERY THIN ICE"
In the east of Ukraine, a fragile ceasefire declared in
February is holding, although the Kiev military said the situation remained
tense near Mariupol, a coastal city on the Sea of Azov.
An Mi-8 Russian military helicopter had also made a sortie
from Crimea, annexed by Russia last year, and then returned to the peninsula, a
military spokesman said.
Alexander Hug, deputy chief of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mission in Ukraine, told Reuters
Television the situation was relatively quiet along the 500 km (312 mile)
"contact line" between the warring sides.
But he added there were "hot spots" particularly in
Shyrokyne, a rebel-held point to the east of Mariupol, and in areas near the airport
at the big regional city of Donetsk. The airport fell to the rebels earlier
this year.
"The current tranquillity is on very thin ice," Hug
said.
(Additional
reporting by Serhiy Karazy in Kiev; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing byHugh Lawson)
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