So, a quarter of our country is not Ukrainians?

A frame from the President's Christmas greeting. Photo: Apostroph

And we congratulate everyone who celebrates this universal holiday without malice or hatred in their heart. But are there really that many? In his greeting, Volodymyr Zelensky assured that the new-calendar Christmas “unites all Ukrainians” and that “Ukrainians are together today”. And here, a sense of bewilderment cannot help but arise.

Broadcasts from the main churches of the UGCC and the OCU do not suggest that they were overcrowded. In other words, the new-calendar Christmas did not even unite those who shout the loudest about it.

And it certainly did not unite more than 6 million Ukrainians who identify with the UOC (Ukrainian Orthodox Church) and will continue to celebrate Christmas on January 7. In modern Ukraine, they make up a fifth, or even a fourth, of the population.

So, there are two options: either Zelensky accidentally forgot about them, or he simply no longer considers them Ukrainians. The second option seems more logical. After all, he also took away their public holiday on January 7.

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