...v ehtom godu reshili ne delat' voenniy parad na Kreshchatike, t.k. veteranov ostalos' malo i ikh sam Yushchenko sprashival: 'nuzhen li vam parad?' Oni otvetili, chto im ne pod silam idti po Kreshchatiku, utomitel'no. Reshili nakryvat' stoly, kotorye postavyat na Kreshchatike i ugoshchat' vsekh veteranov. A kak budet na samom dele, ehshche ne znayu. Obsuzhdalas' dolgo ehta tema, chto reshili ya ne znayu. No kontsert na Maydane obyazatel'no budet, feerverki, massovye gulyan'ya.She writes in Russian because my Ukrainian is pretty bad. Another interesting letter:"This year they decided not to have a military parade on the Kreshchatik (Kyiv's downtown), since there aren't a lot of veterans and Yushchenko asked them himself, 'Do you need a parade?' They answered that they didn't have the strength to go along the Kreshchatik. They decided to set out tables of food and treat all the veterans. How it will be in reality, I don't know. But there'll be a concert on the Independence Square, fireworks, lots of strolling around."
V voskresen'e Den' Pobedy. A u nas eshche est' veterany povstancheskoy armii, kotorye vo vremya voyny voevali i protiv sovetskoy armii, i protiv Gitlera. Tak mezhdu nimi takaya 'voyna' razrazilas', uzhas. Povstantsy pretenduyut na vosstanovlenii spravedlivosti i priznat' ikh zashchitnikami i veteranami voyny za samostiynu Ukrainu, a te krichat, chto oni zashchitniki. Yushchenko pytalsya ikh pomerit', no, uvy. A vchera po teleku pokazyvali Sloveniyu, tak tam tozhe est' takie, kotorye shli za kommunistami, a drugie za monarkhiyu. I tozhe sporyat za vosstanovlenie zvanie veteranov. Ya posmotrela na ehtikh bozhikh oduvanchikov i dumayu, zahem im vse ehto? Ostalos' zhit'-to maksimum dva dnya, a oni eshche voyut za kakuyu-to svoyu pravdu. A mozhet ehto ikh i derzhit?"Sunday is Victory Day. We still have veterans of the insurgent army, which during the war warred both against the Soviet Army and against Hitler. Between them a "war" has broken out, it's terrible. The rebels demand restoration of justice and to be recognized as defenders of the Ukraine and veterans of the war, while the others shout that they are the defenders. Yushchenko tried to calm them down, but in vain. Yesterday on TV they showed Slovenia, there were also those who followed the Communists and those for the monarchy. And they also argue for the restoration of the title of veteran. I watched on these devine dandelions and I thought, why do they need all this? They've got a maximum of two days left to live, but still they fight for some kind of truth. Perhaps that's all that keeps them going?"
