The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Thursday voted to recognize the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as a "genocide."

The motion to acknowledge the Holodomor in such grave terms passed with 73 votes for and one against. It follows a similar move by the European Parliament and individual countries like Germany last year.

What was the Holodomor?

The Holodomor — Ukrainian for "death by starvation" — was a famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932-33 caused by the forced collectivization of farmers under Stalin.

Kyiv has regarded the famine as a deliberate act of genocide by Stalin since 2006, while Moscow still rejects this account, and places the Holodomor within the broader context of famines that devastated parts of the Soviet Union at that time.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has encouraged the international community to acknowledge the famine as a deliberate act.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the Council of Europe's decision on Thursday.

"Restoring historical justice and paying tribute to Holodomor victims sends a message that justice is inevitable for all past and present Moscow's crimes," he posted on social media.

zc/jsi (AFP, dpa)