"I don't know how to call them people": Sienkevych spoke sharply about opponents of the minute of silence

In Mykolaiv there are residents who not only ignore the nationwide minute of silence but openly oppose it. Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych called such people “zhduny” and said that, in his opinion, the Security Service of Ukraine should respond to such cases. The mayor said this during an administrative meeting.

According to the mayor, the minute of silence should become an inseparable part of Ukrainians’ daily life, since almost every family has suffered losses as a result of the full-scale war waged by Russia. Oleksandr Sienkevych urged people to remember the military and civilians whose lives were taken by Russian aggression every day.

“We must remember these people. We often say: they are alive as long as we remember them, but to stop for a minute and recall those we have lost — we cannot do that,” – Sienkevych.

The mayor recalled that he instructed his adviser to check how minutes of silence are observed at city markets and retail chains and said that when the minute of silence was announced at a market, only he stopped.

“The minute of silence and not a single person, except me, stopped. At 9 a.m. everything is bustling there — tomatoes, strawberries. Not a single person reacted,” – the mayor of Mykolaiv.

The mayor spoke especially harshly about residents who argue about the need for such a tribute and oppose a daily minute of silence.

Oleksandr Sienkevych said he considers such opponents of the minute of silence to be “zhduny”, who do not understand what is happening in a country at war.

“But there are those who argue with this, there are people who are against it. I do not know how to call them people. Instead of simply being silent, admitting that they are wrong, they even argue that this minute of silence is unnecessary. That is, a person is so absorbed in their own life that they cannot stand and be silent for a minute. It seems to me that the SBU should react to such people. These are real zhduny, they do not understand what is happening in the country at all,” – Sienkevych.

The daily nationwide minute of silence at 09:00 was introduced by Presidential Decree No.143/2022 of March 16, 2022. In 2026 its observance was additionally enshrined in law, which provides for the use of media and alert systems to inform the public.

Oleksandr Sienkevych urged businesses, institutions, organizations, market administrations and retail chains not to stop announcing the minute of silence via alert systems.

Separately, the mayor raised the issue of police practices. Previously, law enforcement officers stopped traffic at certain intersections in Mykolaiv at 09:00, but lately this practice has not been followed.

The Secretary of the Mykolaiv City Council confirmed that the police stopped blocking traffic at the intersections of Central Avenue with Sadova and Soborna streets. During one of the recent minutes of silence, only a trolleybus stopped on the road.

The mayor instructed the veterans’ affairs department to ask the police to restore the stopping of traffic.

Oleksandr Sienkevych explained the need to return this practice.

“Let them continue this practice, because it needs to be reminded again. After all, as they say, people need to be educated,” – the mayor said.

Earlier we wrote:

• “Start with yourself”: in Mykolaiv the mayor’s adviser publicly “took to task” another adviser over the minute of silence at markets
• In Mykolaiv they still ignore the minute of silence: Sienkevych’s new adviser called on businesses and carriers to stop daily
• Memory alarm: every day at 09:00 the country will pause with sirens for a minute
• Minute of silence: in Mykolaiv people blocked the road
• Daily minute of silence at 9:00: the Rada adopted a law on new rules of national remembrance