Jul 25, 20231 min read

Italian Senate recognizes Holodomor as genocide

A photo taken on May 18, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine, of a monument memorializes the "lost childhood of children" during the Holodomor, a man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet Union that killed upward of 3 million Ukrainians in the 1930s. [Oleg Pereverzev | Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images]

Italy's Senate, the upper house of the country's Parliament, voted to recognize Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on July 26.

"This important step restores historical justice, honors millions of victims, and warns future generations against the crime of genocide," Kuleba tweeted.

The motion passed with 130 senators voting in favor, four abstaining and none voting against it.

The Decode39 news portal noted that the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Parliament's lower house unanimously backed the motion already in February.

The Holodomor, a man-made famine that took place between 1932-33, occurred during Joseph Stalin's reign over the Soviet Union and caused an estimated 3.5 to 5 million Ukrainian deaths.

The Ukrainian government has called on the international community to recognize it as a genocide.