Zelenskiy praises German parliament for declaring Ukraine famine a genocide

FILE PHOTO: Children place ears of wheat as they visit a monument to Holodomor victims during a commemoration ceremony marking the 87th anniversary of the famine of 1932-33, in which millions died of hunger, in Kyiv, Ukraine November 28, 2020. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday praised the German Parliament for passing a resolution that declared the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33 to be a genocide.

The three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition all voted in favour earlier in the day in the Bundestag, German media reported.

In November 1932, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months.

"This is a decision for justice, for truth. And it is a very important signal to many other countries of the world that Russian revanchism will not succeed in re-writing history," Zelenskiy said in an evening address.

Romania, Ireland and Moldova are among the countries that have already declared the Holodomor to be a genocide.

Ukraine accused the Kremlin on Saturday of reviving the "genocidal" tactics of Stalin. Moscow denies the deaths were caused by a deliberate genocidal policy and says Russians and other ethnic groups also suffered because of famine.

Zelenskiy, who is pressing Germany to provide more weapons to defend itself against the Russian invasion that began in February, said future generations of Ukrainians would thank Scholz if Berlin agreed to supply U.S. made Patriot missile defence systems. Germany says it is discussing the request with allies.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Grant McCool)