#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)
⭐ The Consul General of Russia in Cape Town Mr. Malenko presented the commemorative medal "80 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" to the Arctic Convoy veteran Joseph Wilkinson and congratulated him on the upcoming holiday.
📝 Durning World War II Arctic convoys departed from the United Kingdom, Iceland and North America to deliver vital supplies to northern ports of the Soviet Union. During these operations 85 merchant ships and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost.
📝 Joseph Wilkinson, who joined the Royal Navy in 1943 at the age of 17, made a significant contribution to the overall Victory. He served for seven years as a radio operator on a corvette and participated in convoy protection missions heading to Murmansk.
🇷🇺 The veteran expressed gratitude for the attention shown to him and for the contribution to preserving the memory of Victory.
Family members of Joseph Wilkinson were also present at the ceremony.
👏🏻 We sincerely wish him and his family good health and many more years of life.
#Victory80#WeRemember#RussiaSouthAfrica
🇷🇺 24 апреля в преддверии празднования 80-летия Великой Победы в Посольстве России в Камбодже стартовала акция «Георгиевская лента». К мероприятию присоединился коллектив дипмиссии во главе с Послом А.В.Боровиком, ученики и преподаватели Школы при Посольстве.
#Победа80#МыПомним
***
🇷🇺 On April 24, on the eve of the 80th Anniversary of the Great Victory, the Embassy of Russia in Cambodia launched the Saint George’s Ribbon campaign. The team of the Russian diplomatic mission led by H.E. Mr Anatoly Borovik, teachers and pupils of the Embassy School joined the event.
#Victory80#WeRemember
🎖오늘 #승리의영웅 주간 연재 코너를 통해 특별하고도 다면적인 삶을 살아간 인물, 미하일 페트로비치 바라볼코에 대해 좀 더 자세히 소개하고자 합니다.
미하일 페트로비치 바라볼코(1909~1989)는 제355해군보병대대의 지휘관으로, 역사적인 세이신(청진) 상륙작전에 참전한 인물입니다. 1945년 8월 14일 그가 이끄는 대대의 병사들은 청진에 상륙하여 그곳에 교두보를 확보한 뒤 약 하루 동안 일본군의 공격을 격퇴하며 이를 사수했습니다.
미하일 바라볼코는 청진의 초대 군사사령관으로 임명되어 일본에 대한 승리를 기념하는 군 열병식을 지휘하였습니다.
일본 군국주의자들과의 전선에서 상부의 전투 임무를 모범적으로 수행하고, 그 과정에서 보여준 용기와 영웅적 행동을 인정받아 바라볼코는 소비에트연방영웅 칭호를 수여받았습니다.
🎬붉은 군대에서 전역한 후 이 놀라운 인물은 영화계로 진출했고, 고향 오데사의 영화 스튜디오에서 일하며 때때로 단역 배우로도 활동했습니다.
믿기 어렵지만 영화 “위험한 순회공연(비소츠키가 주연을 맡은 그 영화)”에 등장한 이 말없는 회의 참석자와 청진 중심부 건물 앞에 서있는 이 근엄한 군인은 한 명의 동일 인물입니다.
#Victory80#WeRemember
🇷🇺Diplomats of Russian missions in Belgium paid tribute to the memory of the Second World War heroes.
🏅On 9 May 2024, marking the 79th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, a ceremony was held at the communal cemetery in Evere, Brussels. Ambassador of Russia to Belgium Alexander Tokovinin, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Russian Mission to the EU Kirill Logvinov and heads of CIS states’ diplomatic missions laid wreaths at the memorials of Soviet citizens who had died in the struggle against Nazism and of members of the Belgian Resistance.
Commemorative events with the participation of Russian diplomats are also taking place in other Belgian towns where burial sites of Soviet servicemen are located.
🕯We will continue to remember and honour the feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who gave their lives to liberate Europe from Nazism.
#VictoryDay#LestWeForget#Victory79#May9
#Victory81
🌟 On May 6, 1945,the Prague offensive of the Red Army commenced, marking the end of the final battle of the Great Patriotic War on the European ToO during #WW2.
As a result of the operation, Nazi army groups 'Center' and 'Austria' — the last of the remaining fascists' combat-capable troops (around one million Wehrmacht and SS soldiers and officers) — were crushed and ultimately destroyed once and for all.
Czechoslovakia, torn apart by Hitler with the principle consent of Prague's key Western allies — Britain and France — was finally liberated. Following the six years of Nazi occupation, the Czechoslovak peoples finally regained independence paid by blood and enormous sacrifice of the Red Army soldiers-liberators.
📕 From the memoirs of MarshalIvanKonev (“Forty-Fifth”):
The war was essentially over, yet these men died here, on the outskirts of Prague, when our entire country was already celebrating Victory.
They fell in the final battle with the enemy, fearlessly bringing the mission to its end.
🎖 As the Soviet forces approached the borders of Czechoslovakia, a popular uprising broke out in Prague, which was brutally suppressed by SS-units (more than three thousand Praguers were killed). The Czechoslovak government appealed to the Soviet command for support for the anti-fascist resistance movement.
On May 6, the forward group of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal IvanKonev advanced to Prague, along with forces of the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, supported by the Czechoslovak resistance army and local partisans. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with their brothers-in-arms — the Red Army soldiers — they finally cleared their Motherland, Czechoslovakia, of Nazi troops. From 1939 to 1945, the fascists exterminated all who opposed the occupation regime. Thousands of Slovaks and Czechs were forcibly deported to the Reich and enslaved there.
💬 Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, MarshalIvan Konev:
Despite the exhaustion after the Berlin operation, on the eve of the offensive on Prague that slogan was everywhere:
To Prague! We shall save it!
We won't allow Prague to be destroyed by fascist barbarians!
On the night of May 8-9, tank units of the 1st Ukrainian Front engaged in rapid 80-kilometer forced march and, overcoming fierce SS-troops' resistance, entered Prague.
By 10 a.m. on May 9, Soviet forces, with active support from the Czechoslovak people, completely cleared Prague of the Nazis.
In the meanwhile, the enemy’s retreat routes to the west and southwest were cut off. On May 10-11, the remaining combat-capable Nazi troops, their collaborators and henchmen outside Prague began to surrender. Over the following three days, the main forces of the 1st and 4th Ukrainian Fronts fully destroyed the remnants of German armies eastward of the Czechoslovak capital.
💬 Commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, Marshal Andrey Yeremenko:
It is difficult to put into words…
The Czechoslovak people had suffered greatly at the hands of fascist barbarians.
💬 Soviet tank crews' member, who liberated Prague, VassilyMoskalenko:
Local boys ran up to our tanks <…> carrying buckets of cold water. After the march, it was like honey to us.
People of all ages cried out with joy, grasped our hands, embraced us.
🕯#WeRemember: 140'000 of our soldiers and officers gave their lives for the freedom of Czechoslovakia. In honour of this landmark victory, the medal “For the Liberation of Prague” was established.
#Victory81
🌟 On January 17, 1945, the Red Army liberated Warsaw from Nazi occupation during the Vistula–Oder Strategic offensive.
Starting from 1940, there was the resistance movement operating in Poland against the Nazis — 'Armia Krajowa' (included the supporters of Jozef Pilsudski, whose tactics eventually resulted in Poland's losing its sovereignty), and 'Armia Ludowa', which later together with the 1st Polish Army formed 'Wojsko Polskie' — the Polish Army. It represented broader working class people in Poland as a whole, in contrast to 'Armia Krajowa' militants and bandits, who were subordinate to the so-called 'Polish Government in Exile' in London and were responsible for numerous barbaric crimes against civilians.
On August 1, 1944, 'Armia Krajowa' (AK) initiated an uprising in Warsaw as part of the so-called 'Operation Storm' or 'Burza' against the Nazi occupants. The AK's principal aim was to liberate Poland and, most importantly, independently of the advancing Soviet forces. The uprising was poorly prepared and ultimately was doomed to defeat.
At the very moment the order to start the uprising was issued, the Nazi troops launched a counter-offensive against the Red Army. As a result, the Red Army’s attempts to immediately cross the Vistula River were unsuccessful.
***
The launch of the Soviet offensive in the Vistula–Oder direction was initially scheduled for January 20, 1945. However, on January 6, after the Allies suffered a major losses in the Ardennes and had to ask Moscow for help, Winston Churchill appealed to Joseph Stalin for assistance and requested the Soviet leadership to launch the offensive toward the Vistula river as soon as possible. The Soviet leadership responded to the Allies' request and commanded the start of the operation on January 12.
Poland was regarded by Hitler’s command, not without reason, as the Reich’s principal external defensive line. The Nazi leaders understood that any Wehrmacht's retreat westwards would open a direct path for the Red Army to Berlin. Thus, the Germans were determined to hold their positions at any costs and prepared to mount the fiercest resistance.
The enemy had concentrated in Poland formidable forces — around 30 divisions of 560'000 soldiers and officers, supported by 5'000 artillery weapons, 1'220 tanks and other armoured vehicles. Between the Vistula and the Oder, the Nazis constructed seven defensive lines, arranged in depth over a span of 300 to 500 kilometres.
Warsaw became the primary objective of the Red Army' offensive. By January 14, the Soviet forces had already approached the Polish capital. According to the Soviet military command directives, that were the units of the Polish Army that were suggested to be the first to enter the city — Polish patriots, our comrades, and brothers-in-arms of Soviet soldiers who fought side-by-side with the Red Army to liberate their Homeland and later advanced on Berlin, forging our common Victory over Nazism together.
On January 16, Soviet units, advanced rapidly to Warsaw from the north, crossed the Vistula River and tied down the German garrison inside the city. The enemy was encircled from all directions: the 2nd Guards Tank Army pinned down the Nazis to the west, while units of the Polish Army severed lines of communication from the south. With all retreat routes cut off, the Germans, recognising the further resistance was hopeless and pointless, started surrendering en masse.
On January 17, the city was fully liberated.
The success of the Warsaw operation enabled the Red Army to substantially advance towards Berlin and to liberate a large part of Polish territory. Escaping, with the help of the Soviet soldiers-liberators, the Nazi enslavement, the Polish people regained their freedom.
🎖#WeRemember: Overall, more than 600'000 Red Army soldiers and officers perished fighting for the liberation of Polandfrom Nazi occupation.
By early February 1945, the 1st Belorussian Front had reached the Oder River. Preparations for the final battle of #WW2 were underway — the road to Berlin was open.
#Victory81
🎖오늘 #승리의영웅들 코너에서는 위대한 전공을 세운 후 기적적으로 살아남아 우리 세대가 역사를 기억할 수 있도록 생생한 연결고리의 역할을 해준 한 영웅의 이야기를 전해드리고자 합니다.
게오르기 다닐로비치 일랴셴코는 소련의 대일전에서 가장 큰 활약을 한 세 명의 전투기 조종사 중 한 명입니다. 1945년 8월 10일, 그와 그의 동료들은 라선항을 떠난 일본군 함선을 파괴하라는 전투 임무를 부여받았습니다. 어려운 상황이었음에도 소련 조종사들은 임무를 완수합니다.
다른 선원들의 증언에 따르면, 일본군 함선의 대공포 사격으로 일랴셴코의 비행기가 불에 휩싸였습니다. 그러나 불타는 폭격기는 전투 항로를 이탈하지 않고 죽는 순간까지 임무를 계속 수행했습니다. 이로 인해 일랴셴코는 소련 영웅 칭호를 사후에 수여 받게 됩니다.
👉그러나 이 시점부터 이야기의 흥미로운 전환이 시작됩니다.
뒤늦게 밝혀진 바에 따르면, 일랴셴코는 불타는 비행기를 바다에 착륙시키고 폭격수와 함께 구명보트로 옮겨 탔습니다. 그들은 며칠을 바다에서 떠돌다 한 어촌 마을 인근 해안에 정박했습니다. 그곳의 주민들은 그들을 따뜻하게 맞이해주었지만, 일본 헌병대는 경계를 늦추지 않았습니다. 그들은 곧 체포되어 서울에 있는 포로수용소로 이송됩니다.
당시 일본군이 전쟁 포로에게 어떤 '인도주의'를 보여주었는지에 대해선 굳이 자세히 설명할 필요가 없다고 생각합니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 9월 13일, 일랴셴코는 자신의 부대로 복귀할 수 있었습니다. 그는 이후에도 비행을 멀리하지 않았고, 전역 후에도 평생을 마하치칼라 항공업에서 일했습니다.
이 이야기가 특별히 흥미로운 이유는 오래된 기록 문서에서 전사자 명단 옆에 손 글씨로 쓰인 '착오', '생존'이라는 메모가 가져오는 순수한 기쁨의 감정 때문일 것입니다. #Victory80#WeRemember
🗓 Today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners of the Auschwitz (Oswiecim) concentration camp by the Red Army soldiers. According to available data, at least 1.3 million people were imprisoned at the camp over the period of its existence, about 1.1 million of whom were exterminated. This “factory of death” became one of the symbols of the Nazi atrocities.
After three days of fighting on the outskirts of Oswiecim in the night of 27 January 1945 the Red Army completely liberated the city and opened the gates of the concentration camp, whose prisoners cried tears of joy as they welcomed the Soviet liberators. Part of the camp was immediately transformed into a therapeutic hospital. In total, more than 7000 camp inmates were rescued that day.
✏ In 2005, Resolution 60/7 “Holocaust remembrance” adopted by the UN General Assembly and co-sponsored by Russia, proclaimed this date the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
❗We will always remember the heroic act of Soviet soldiers. Attempts made by representatives of the European institutions every year to silence the role of the Red Army in the liberation of Auschwitz are futile. Russia will continue to cherish the memory of the Second World War and to defend the historical truth.
#NoStatuteOfLimitations#WeRemember#Victory80
🗓27 January is an important historical date for our country and for the whole world. On this day 81 years ago, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi blockade. The siege began on 8 September 1941 and lasted 872 days, until 27 January 1944.
The defence of the city was of great military, strategic, political and moral significance. It also became one of the most tragic pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War.
☝Hitler's plan was to completely wipe Leningrad off the map. The city was exposed to massive air raids and artillery strikes, with delivery of food supplies blocked. As a result, more than 641 thousand citizens died during the siege (according to other data, no less than 1 million people). It is impossible to qualify such actions of the Nazis other than as genocide of the Soviet population.
The road across Lake Ladoga - or “the Road of Life”, as residents of Leningrad called it - was the only transport route connecting the besieged city with the rest of the country. It was used to deliver ammunition, armaments, food, fuel, evacuate the sick, the wounded and children, as well as equipment from factories and plants.
Despite cold, hunger and the horrors of war, the inhabitants continued to fight selflessly. The heroic act of the toilers of besieged Leningrad and its defenders, who protected their city in the most difficult conditions, inspired the entire army and the country, as well as gained deep respect of the Anti-Hitler Coalition states.
🎥 We invite you to watch the documentary film by RT dedicated to that difficult period of time that describes the heroism of the Soviet people.
#NoStatuteOfLimitations#WeRemember#Victory80