Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and the country's political elite turned out Saturday for a solemn service to commemorate the millions who died in the Soviet-era famine of 1932-1933.
"We pray for the peace of God's slaves killed by the famine in Ukraine," a priest wearing a gold chasuble pronounced in the 11th century St Sophia's cathedral in central Kiev in a service shown live on television.
Pro-Western Yushchenko, with his wife and their five children, followed the mass alongside interim Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, himself a pro-Russian, and a large number of ministers representing the gamut of the country's political parties. At 1300 GMT the president was due to lead a procession to a monument to the victims of the famine, followed by a minute of silence at 1400 GMT.
Ukrainians have also been urged to light candles in two places in the city centre, as well as in their homes, in memory of the four to 10 million people who starved as a result of a Soviet programme of forced collectivisation launched in 1932.
Ukrainian farmers had their produce confiscated and the Soviet authorities also blocked food supplies into Ukraine in what some historians have argued was a deliberate attempt by Stalin to crush a drive for independence. For years Kiev has been trying to get the United Nations to recognise the famine as "an act of genocide" committed against the Ukrainian people.
Russia and pro-Russian Ukrainians take a jaundiced view of the effort, even though a law to that effect was adopted last year by the Ukrainian parliament.
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