France's Senate, the upper house of the parliament, has approved a resolution recognizing the Holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
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 been calling on the international community to recognize it as a genocide.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he's "grateful to French senators for this historic vote which restores justice and honors the memory of millions of victims." He added that "such crimes should never repeat and never be forgotten."
Igor Kossov
"This is another important step towards restoring historical justice and perpetuating the memory of millions of Ukrainians who were starved to death," tweeted President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In March, the resolution was passed by the lower house of France's parliament, the National Assembly.
Several countries and institutions recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of Ukrainian people in 2022 and 2023. Those include Iceland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, and Bulgaria.
In December 2022, the European Parliament also did so and urged Russia to issue an official apology for the atrocities committed by the Soviet regime.
Daria Shulzhenko
