Ukraine marks anniversary of great famine

But the solemn events were overshadowed by fierce opposition from Russia. The Kremlin is resisting Ukraine's campaign to win international recognition of the 1932-33 tragedy as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation, saying other ethnic groups also suffered.

The anniversary of Holodomor--or Death by Hunger as it is known here--is traditionally marked in late November, when the food shortages began.

The famine was orchestrated by dictator Josef Stalin to force peasants to give up their land and join collective farms and Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, suffered the most.

The death toll is disputed, but there is no question the tragedy was devastating. Top Ukrainian historian Stanislav Kulchitsky believes 3.5 million perished, while President Viktor Yushchenko says that Holodomor claimed the lives of up to 10 million.

Yushchenko insists that the famine was aimed at rooting out Ukrainian nationalism, targeting the heart of the nation, its peasants, and thus is an act of genocide.

"This was not death through hunger--this was murder of people through hunger," a black-clad Yushchenko said in a speech. "Hunger was selected as a tool to subdue the Ukrainian people."

In the fall of 1932 authorities confiscated grain, livestock and other food in villages across the Soviet Union, after peasants failed to meet grain quotas that exceeded crop yields. The Soviet Union exported the grain to build factories and arm its military.

Residents were prohibited to leave their homes--effectively condemning them to starvation and survivors say that people ate dogs, grass and that cases of cannibalism were widespread. The famine was a closely guarded secret in the Soviet times.

Several hundred Ukrainians braved snow and cold to light candles outside the golden-domed St. Michael cathedral in Kiev in memory of those who perished.