#WeRemember
🌟 On January 27, 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi blockade.
8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣days of the barbaric siegeby the Nazis of our northern capital, which lasted for an unprecedented period from September 8, 1941 until January 27, 1944, and had devastating consequences, terrible sufferings caused by the German invaders to the people of Leningrad, finally ended.
According to historical calculations, over a million people perished during those years, including more than 600'000 of children, women, the seniors, and also the wounded and disabled soldiers — they were dying, because of the Nazis, of starvation, cold, exhaustion and disease.
#LestWeForget: The unbending people of Leningrad of all ages, men and women from small to large, demonstrated extraordinary Heroism and Courage and went through, with dignity, all the inhuman sufferings by the Nazi barbarians and their accomplices. Despite starvation, living under permanent bombing and shelling by the German and Finnish artillery, the people of Leningrad withstood the siege, defended their city and made their invaluable substantial contribution to the Great Victory.
The Nazi criminals did not avoid accountability and paid a high price for the outrageous blockade — the enemy army Group 'North' lost over 900'000 men during the siege and was ultimately destroyed by the Red Army in the Baltic region, Karelia and East Prussia.
***
❗️The history of mankind has never witnessed anything comparable to the Blockade of Leningrad in terms of the scale of the tragedy and the extent of the suffering endured by people.
The Nazis and their accomplices followed Hitler’s direct order — to hold Leningrad under a tight siege, fire at anyone crossing the frontline and seek to exterminate all the people in the city. Leningrad was completely encircled in early September 1941, cut off from the rest of the country. The only way to get in and out of the city was by air or across Lake Ladoga’s ice — the route across the lake came to be known as the#RoadOfLife.
During the first weeks of the siege, Nazi troops and the Finns, who were holding blockade of Leningrad from the north, shelled the city with heavy and dense artillery fire, resulting in food warehouses being burnt down. As Leningrad received most of its food from other regions of the country, it immediately began to suffer from food shortages, primarily a lack of bread. Only 13 bakery plants remained in operation to serve almost 2.5 million people.
Given those acute shortages of food supplies, there were strict rationing norms for bread. From November 1941, factory workers received 250 grammes, while children were entitled to just 125 (!) grammes of bread per day. Many people began to die of starvation.
❗️ However, despite all those inhuman conditions, the City never ever gave up fighting. Life in Leningrad went on and never stopped for a second.
***
The Red Army tried to break the blockade on many occasions. Having fought multiple battles, with the fiercest combats taking place on the 'Neva Bridgehead' on the River Neva’s left bank, our forces succeeded in partially lifting the siege in January 1943 as part of Operation Iskra — 'Spark'.
🎖OnJanuary 27, 1944, the Siege of Leningrad was completely lifted following a rapid offensive by the Red Army, with the Leningrad and Novgorod regions being also liberated from the Nazi invaders. Wehrmacht troops were forced to retreat to the Baltics, where they were later totally defeated and destroyed.
💬Maria Zakharova:
The defence of Leningrad has become a symbol of courageof the Soviet people. <...> The people of Leningrad saved their city despite incredible sufferings — they have saved it as their human dignity.
That is probably the greatest heroism of the people of Leningrad, the greatest sacrifice they made for all of us — not just for the people of our country but for the world as a whole.
(From the briefing by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, January 22, 2026)
🕯 Yesterday, a mourning ceremony was held in Beslan, North Osetia, in memory of the victims of a bloody attack, committed by a group of terrorists on September 1-3, 2004, at the School No.1.
Schoolchildren released 334 white balloons into the sky, in memoriam of the 334 people, who perished as a result of the heinous crime.
The mourning ceremony commenced with a minute of silence at exactly 1.05 pm — the time when an explosion occurred in the school's gymnasium.
#WeRemember
🦅 On August 1, Russia commemorates the Day of Remembrance for Russian Soldiers Who Fell in World War I. On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire, and by August 2, had already invaded its territory.
Thus, our country joined the then largest and bloodiest armed conflict in history.
At the beginning of the XX century, Europe was effectively divided into two opposing blocs — the Entente (the British Empire, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). Each side had mutual grievances, and their subsequent arms race marked the preparations for a large-scale war.
The immediate trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the nationalist organisation "Young Bosnia".
On July 23, Austro-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, deliberately containing demands that were impossible to meet. The Serbian government responded with restraint, accepting many of the conditions, but rejected some key points, including allowing Austro-Hungarian police onto Serbian territory. As a result, on July 28, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
🇷🇺 Russia, long regarded as the protector of Orthodox Slavic nations in the Balkans, could not remain uninvolved and on the night of July 31, declared a general mobilisation.
On August 1, the German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire; two days later — on France. On August 4, the British Empire declared war on Germany. On August 6, Austro-Hungary declared war on Russia. Thus, within the span of a single week, the leading European powers were drawn into the conflict.
The war that had begun among a few European countries gradually engulfed 38 nations. The conflict lasted just over four years but surpassed all previous wars in human history in both scale and consequences.
The total number of mobilized soldiers reached 73.5 million. During the hostilities, 10 million people were killed — as many as had died in all European wars over the previous thousand years — and 20 million were wounded, 3.5 million of whom were left permanently disabled.
🥈 The Russian Empire had to fulfill its obligations as an ally while also pursuing its own strategic objectives. The most important directions, from the country's perspective, were the Southwestern and Caucasus fronts, while the Northwestern and Western directions played a less central role. However, due to treaty obligations, the Russian command undertook a full-scale offensive in East Prussia in 1914.
Under these difficult conditions, our soldiers and officers demonstrated exceptional courage and bravery.
One of the symbols of Russian valour was the defence of the Osowiec Fortress. German troops used chemical weapons — a mixture of chlorine and bromine — killing most of the garrison. To the enemy's shock, the surviving defenders launched a bayonet charge and drove them into retreat. This event went down in history as the "Attack of the Dead Men."
One of the most significant and vivid episodes of World War I, according to many historians, was the famous Brusilov Offensive by the Russian Imperial Army on the Southwestern Front. It pushed Austro-Hungary to the brink of collapse and forced the German Empire to divert substantial forces from Verdun in France to the “Russian theatre of war.”
🕯The self-sacrifice of Russian soldiers and officers is hard to overestimate. Over the course of the war, over 2 million of them perished.
Our country honours the memory of the heroes of those days: in 2004, the Memorial Park Complex to the Heroes of World War I was opened in Moscow, and in 2014, a monument to the heroes of World War I was unveiled on Poklonnaya Hill. In total, 20 monuments and memorials have been erected across Russia and abroad.
👉Read more
#WeRemember
🌟 On January 27, Gleb Shubin, the Cultural Attaché of the Russian Embassy in Pakistan, delivered a lecture to Russian language students at the Allama Iqbal Open University. The lecture was dedicated to the 82nd anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade and the 81st anniversary of Soviet troops liberating prisoners from the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Mr. Shubin emphasized that the courage and unyielding will of the residents of Leningrad and the Soviet Union as a whole during World War II thwarted Nazi Germany's inhuman plans.
❗️The Russian diplomat noted that the Soviet people's unparalleled heroism and countless sacrifices in the bloodiest war in human history were decisive in defeating Nazism and ensuring the independence and stable development of most countries in Eurasia.
#WeRemember
🥇 The 872-day Siege of Leningrad was a harrowing ordeal for everyone who remained in the city. However, each resident of Leningrad contributed to the future victory through their hard work and fortitude. Every citizen, both young and old, actively participated in the defence of the city, extinguishing fires, clearing rubble, building fortifications, working at industrial enterprises, and helping the wounded.
❗️ All this happened against the backdrop of terrible exhaustionfrom hunger and constant shelling by the enemy.
Children's diaries have a unique place in commemorating the resilience of ordinary people whose will to live triumphed over the oppression of the Third Reich. During this difficult time, some of the city’s children documented on paper the terrible events they witnessed day by day.
🕯 The most famous of these diaries was Tanya Savicheva's notebook, where six out of nine pages chronicle the dates of her relatives' deaths: her mother, grandmother, sister, brother and two uncles. Tragically, Tanya herself died during evacuation in the Gorky Region on July 1, 1944, at the age of 14.
Keeping a diary helped these children cope with anxiety, fear and loss. Under the onslaught of hunger, constant shelling and bombing, and the death of loved ones, a piece of paper and a pencil provided solace and support. These written accounts offer invaluable insights into the experiences of people during those terrible 872 days of the Siege.
📚 Today, on the 80th Anniversary of the lifting of the Siege, we share excerpts from the diaries of children who witnessed those tragic events.
#WeRemember
🎖 On January 18, 1943, the Red Army broke the siege of Leningrad during the operation 'Iskra'.
The blockade of our Northern capital by the Nazis lasted for 872 days, having claimed the lives of around 1 million people, including more than 600'000 — children, women, seniors, and the fighters wounded and crippled at the frontline — who died of starvation.
Alongside German troops, military units from European countries conquered by Hitler participated in the Siege of Leningrad — the 'Norway', 'the Netherlands' and 'Flanders' legions, as well as the Spanish infantry division. From the Narva direction, Baltic units — Latvian and Estonian battalions — were kept in reserve by the Nazis. From the north, the Finnish army besieged Leningrad and also shelled the city with its artillery.
The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: to block the city, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population.
❗️But Leningrad endured and never ever gave up fighting.
Most of that time communication with Leningrad was almost only possible by air or through the only available transport artery across Lake Ladoga that became known as the 'Road of Life'.
The Soviet forces repeatedly tried to break the siege, finally succeeding on January 18, 1943, during the operation 'Iskra'. To liberate the besieged city, it was decided to launch the main strikes near Shlisselburg, in the narrowest part of the Nazi defence lines adjoining Lake Ladoga.
⚔️ The Red Army broke the siege on January 18. A narrow corridor only 11 km wide opened on the southern shore of Ladoga for supplies and evacuation. The enemy was thrown 10−12 km away from the southern part of the Ladoga sector of the frontline.
After 16 months of heroic fight against Hitler’s invaders, the second most significant city of the Soviet Union regained a reliable land-based connection with the Motherland. Three weeks after the siege was broken, a railway was built to carry the first trains with food supplies and munitions. Electricity supply improved.
The breaking of the siege of Leningrad became a radical turning point in the battles in the northwestern sector of the Soviet-German front. The plans of Hitler’s command to take Leningrad by storm were completely disrupted. The threat of the Wehrmacht joining forces with the Finnish army to block the city was completely removed.
✍️ On the occasion of breaking the siege the city, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a special letter on behalf of all Americans to Leningrad residents.
It read, in part:
In the name of the people of the United States of America, I present this scroll to the City of Leningrad as a memorial to its gallant soldiers and its loyal men, women and children who, isolated from the rest of their nation by the invader and despite constant bombardment and untold sufferings from cold, hunger and sickness, successfully defended their beloved city throughout the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943, and thus symbolized the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of all the nations of the world resisting forces of aggression.
***
#Victory81
🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive.
#NoStatuteOfLimitation: In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the Nazi Germany's occupant troops — along with their collaborators, including armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia — as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an ACTOFGENOCIDE against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember#LestWeForget
#Victory81
🌟 On April 13, 1945, the capital of Austria, Vienna, was liberated from the Nazi invaders by the Red Army during #WW2.
In the spring of 1945, Vienna served as strategically important defence point that the Germans sought to hold at any cost. The Nazis blocked streets and bridges across the Danube with barricades and mined debris, while concentrating hundreds of firing positions and resistance strongholds inside residential buildings along the outer defensive lines. The enemy stopped at nothing: the Germans used numerous sites of Vienna’s historic architecture and cultural landmarks as cover, effectively turning the ancient medieval city into a massive fortified strongpoint in order to delay the Soviet forces for as long as possible.
On the southeastern approaches to Vienna, the city was defended by the powerful Nazi Army Group “South,” with the strength amounting to nearly half a million well-trained Wehrmachtsoldiers and officers. More than 6'000 guns and mortars, as well as around 700 armored vehicles (tanks and self-propelled artillery), were deployed around the capital. The city was referred to by the Nazis as the “Alpine Fortress,” and the battle for it was to determine the further course of the entire war.
In March 1945, following a successful offensive in the Austrian direction, the Red Army broke through Nazi defenses between the Danube and Lake Balaton (Hungary). Advancing up to 80 kilometers toward Vienna, the Soviet forces then launched the operation to liberate the city.
On April 5, 1945, the Red Army launched the assault on Vienna. Fierce and brutal fighting unfolded on the city’s outskirts. The Red Army faced some of the enemy’s most well-trained units and formations, including SS tank divisions.
❗️The swift and selfless actions of the Soviet soldiers-liberators prevented the Nazi criminals from destroying one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. Thanks to the Soviet command’s decision not to use heavy artillery or aerial bombing, Vienna preserved its historic appearance. At the cost of their lives, the Red Army soldiers and officers protected such landmarks as the Imperial Bridge, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna City Hall, and other masterpieces of medieval architecture that form today's Austrian rich historical heritage.
On April 13, the last pocket of fascists' resistance in the capital’s center was eliminated, and Vienna was completely cleared of the Nazis. The city came fully under the control of the Red Army. In the so-called “Vienna encirclement,” the Wehrmacht suffered devastating losses: Army Group “South” was completely defeated, and 11 Wehrmacht tank divisions were destroyed, including the 6th SS Panzer Army.
#LestWeForget
In Austria, tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers who saved Europe from the 'Nazi plague' are buried. Across the country, there are 217 monuments and military burial sites where more than 80'000 Red Army soldiers rest, along with concentration camp prisoners tortured by the Nazis and brought here for forced labor as part of the Third Reich’s genocide against the Soviet people during #WWII.
🎖 On August 19, 1945, a monument to Soviet soldiers who perished during the liberation of Austria from Nazism was unveiled in central Vienna at #Schwarzenbergplatz — a 20-meter-high statue of the Soldier-Liberator standing on a pedestal. Today, this memorial serves as a visible reminder to the people of Austria of who brought them freedom in May 1945.
In 1955, under the Austrian State Treaty restoring an independent and democratic Austria, Vienna undertook obligations (Article 19, War Graves and Memorials):
“respect, preserve and maintain the graves on Austrian territory of the soldiers, prisoners of war and nationals forcibly brought to Austria of the Allied Powers as well as of the other United Nations which were at war with Germany, the memorials and emblems on these graves, and the memorials to the military glory of the armies which fought on Austrian territory against Hitlerite Germany”
#WeRemember
#Victory81
🌟 On April 9, 1945, the Red Army captured the Nazi fortress city — Königsberg — during the East-Prussian offensive. The German Wehrmacht’s troops in East Prussia — powerful fascists' units on the Eastern Front — were totally destroyed once and for all.
The 3rd Belarussian Front of the Red Army carried out the Königsberg operation and crushed the Nazis withinjust three days. The first line of the enemy defences was breached within the first 24 hours, the fortress city surrounded the next day, with the last pockets of Nazi resistance being eliminated on April 9.
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#Königsbergserved as a ToO with fierce and bloody battles during #WWII. The city itself, which was regarded as the most impregnable citadel of the Third Reich, was fortified with then cutting-edge military technology and prepared for long-term resistance in conditions of complete isolation. The city area of about 200 square kilometres was turned into a complicated network of fortifications, which, combined with numerous stone buildings in the suburbs, provided conditions for long-term defence.
The citadel was termed by the Nazis the “iron door of Germany.” The Red Army soldiers and officers who took part in the assault on Königsberg recalled that only the 305mm artillery guns could penetrate the several-metres thick walls. The fall of Königsberg delivered a heavy blow to the Nazi war machine — the enemy lost the strategic Pillau naval base on the Baltic Sea, with the main German troops of the Samland and East Prussian armies being completely defeated.
🔉Excerpt from the Soviet "Sovinformburo" communique on April 9, 1945:
On April 9, the forces of the 3rd Belarussian Front stormed and captured <...> the Königsberg fortress — the capital of East Prussia and a strategic hub of Nazi defences on the Baltic Sea.
By 8 pm, our armies took as prisoners over 27'000 Nazi soldiers and officers, seized a large amount of weapons and various military equipment.
👉The fall of Königsberg and East Prussia accelerated the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The end of the Third Reich was a foregone conclusion, but the enemy, fearing just retribution for the numerous crimes it had committed, continued to fight desperately.
#LestWeForget: The Red Army soldiers and officers demonstrated high combat readiness and mass heroism: 235 soldiers were later awarded the title of #HeroOfTheSovietUnion. To commemorate their feat, the 'Medal For the Capture of Königsberg' was established and awarded to 760'000 Soviet soldiers and officers.
By decisions of the Potsdam Conference following the end of WWII in Europe, a large part of East Prussia was assigned to Poland, while a third of its territory with Königsberg was incorporated into the Soviet Union and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the Kaliningrad Region).
🎖 On November 17, 2025, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on establishing a new commemorative date — April 9, Day of the Heroic Assault and Capture of Königsberg.
#WeRemember
#Victory81
🌟 On April 9, 1945, the Red Army captured the Nazi fortress city — Königsberg — during the East-Prussian offensive. The German Wehrmacht’s troops in East Prussia — powerful fascists' units on the Eastern Front — were totally destroyed once and for all.
The 3rd Belarussian Front of the Red Army carried out the Königsberg operation and crushed the Nazis withinjust three days. The first line of the enemy defences was breached within the first 24 hours, the fortress city surrounded the next day, with the last pockets of Nazi resistance being eliminated on April 9.
***
#Königsbergserved as a ToO with fierce and bloody battles during #WWII. The city itself, which was regarded as the most impregnable citadel of the Third Reich, was fortified with then cutting-edge military technology and prepared for long-term resistance in conditions of complete isolation. The city area of about 200 square kilometres was turned into a complicated network of fortifications, which, combined with numerous stone buildings in the suburbs, provided conditions for long-term defence.
The citadel was termed by the Nazis the “iron door of Germany.” The Red Army soldiers and officers who took part in the assault on Königsberg recalled that only the 305mm artillery guns could penetrate the several-metres thick walls. The fall of Königsberg delivered a heavy blow to the Nazi war machine — the enemy lost the strategic Pillau naval base on the Baltic Sea, with the main German troops of the Samland and East Prussian armies being completely defeated.
🔉Excerpt from the Soviet "Sovinformburo" communique on April 9, 1945:
On April 9, the forces of the 3rd Belarussian Front stormed and captured <...> the Königsberg fortress — the capital of East Prussia and a strategic hub of Nazi defences on the Baltic Sea.
By 8 pm, our armies took as prisoners over 27'000 Nazi soldiers and officers, seized a large amount of weapons and various military equipment.
👉The fall of Königsberg and East Prussia accelerated the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The end of the Third Reich was a foregone conclusion, but the enemy, fearing just retribution for the numerous crimes it had committed, continued to fight desperately.
#LestWeForget: The Red Army soldiers and officers demonstrated high combat readiness and mass heroism: 235 soldiers were later awarded the title of #HeroOfTheSovietUnion. To commemorate their feat, the 'Medal For the Capture of Königsberg' was established and awarded to 760'000 Soviet soldiers and officers.
By decisions of the Potsdam Conference following the end of WWII in Europe, a large part of East Prussia was assigned to Poland, while a third of its territory with Königsberg was incorporated into the Soviet Union and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the Kaliningrad Region).
🎖 On November 17, 2025, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on establishing a new commemorative date — April 9, Day of the Heroic Assault and Capture of Königsberg.
#WeRemember
🎖️On 9 May 2026, to mark the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, a ceremony was held at the communal cemetery in Evere, Brussels, where wreaths were laid at the memorials of Soviet citizens who fell in the struggle against Nazism, as well as of members of the Belgian Resistance. The event was attended by Ambassador of Russia to the Kingdom of Belgium Denis Gonchar, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU and Euratom Karen Malayan, heads of diplomatic missions of CIS Member States and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Archdiocese of Brussels and Belgium. The participants of the ceremony honoured the memory of the fallen heroes and paid tribute to the heroic act of those who liberated Europe.
The staff of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU traditionally joined the annual nationwide Immortal Regiment campaign by organizing an exhibition featuring the photographs of relatives who took part in the Great Patriotic War.
❗Preserving and protecting the historical memory have always been and remain among the key priorities of the military memorial work of Russian diplomatic missions. Commemorative events with the participation of Russian diplomats are also taking place in other Belgian towns where burial sites of Soviet soldiers are located.
Eternal memory and glory to the Soviet soldiers who bravely fought for the Great Victory and to all those who struggled for a world free from fascism.
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!
#Victory81#WeRemember
🚩The Immortal Regiment in Ethiopia
💐The 'Immortal Regiment' march took place at the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia, commemorating the 81st Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
More than 100 participants carried in their hands portraits of their relatives who crushed Nazism and sacrificed their lives in the name of defending our Motherland from this «brown plague».
🎗We bow our heads in the bright memory of those who defended our Motherland and gave us the opportunity to live.
#Victory81#WeRemember