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🎆On January 27, 1944, at 20:00 – for the first time in a long while, the evening sky over Leningrad was lit not by anti-aircraft searchlights, but by the bright flashes of a victory salute. 24 volleys from 324 guns thundered across the Mars Field, along the banks of the Neva River, and from the ships of the Baltic Fleet, marking the long-awaited end of the blockade of the hero city on the Neva. 💬From the Order of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front to the troops of the Leningrad Front, January 27, 1944: Citizens of Leningrad! Brave and steadfast people of Leningrad! Together with the troops of the Leningrad Front, you have defended our city. Through your heroic labour and unyielding endurance, overcoming all the hardships and suffering of the blockade, you forged the weapons of Victory over the enemy, giving all your strength to the cause. In celebration of the Victory achieved and in honour of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade, today, 27 January, at 20:00, the City of Lenin salutes the valiant troops of the Leningrad Front with 24 artillery volleys from 324 guns. 💬From the article by the Leningrad branch of TASS, January 28, 1944: The hero city, which for 28 months fought steadfastly and courageously against a ferocious enemy, has withstood an unparalleled siege and driven back the Nazi thugs. The warriors of Leningrad, continuing their offensive, are driving the enemy from our Soviet homeland. In celebration of the Great Victory and in honour of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade, yesterday, 27 January, the City of Lenin saluted the valiant troops of the Leningrad Front. The capital of our Fatherland, Moscow, which salutes the liberation of ever more cities, yesterday listened with special emotion to the salute – this time thundering from Leningrad itself. In the darkest and most tragic days of the blockade, the people of Moscow always stood with the people of Leningrad in spirit. They admired their extraordinary resilience and courage, shared in their ordeals, and never wavered in their belief in Victory. 468 long days still remained until the final defeat of the Nazi invaders, and the Red Banner raised over the Reichstag. Yet 82 years ago, the people of Leningrad who had endured bombardment, hunger and unimaginable suffering of the siege had every right to celebrate a special Victory. Moscow, which marked every military achievement with artillery salute, on that single occasion yielded this honour to the Northern Capital. 🏅Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the battle for Leningrad, for the freedom and independence of our Fatherland! #Victory81

Khatyn Massacre 8️⃣3️⃣ years ago, in Nazi-occupied Belarus, an entire village was wiped out. 149 people were burned alive. 75 of them were children. This atrocity was carried out by Ukrainian collaborators under German command (the 118th Schutzmannschaft Battalion and the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger). 🇨🇦Canada gave asylum to two Nazi butchers of Khatyn: Joseph Vinnitskii and Vladimir Katriuk. ❗️They were never held accountable for their crimes and died in peace. Memory cannot be selective. No one is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten! #Victory81#WeRemember

#Victory81 🏅 In January 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi siege, which had lasted 8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣ days. During this time, the city endured severe hunger, constant shelling, and bombing. ◾️ Facts about the genocide of the Soviet people in Leningrad 👉 More than 1 million people fell victim to the genocide. Of these, over 600,000 residents — children, women, the elderly, soldiers wounded and maimed at the front — died of hunger, cold, exhaustion, and disease. Leningraders saw death all around them every day, but they did not lose their dignity and faith in Victory. The memory of the Leningrad siege is preserved by museums, memorials, and the Piskarevskoye Cemetery, and the stories of survivors remind us of the courage and resilience of the city's residents. #WeRemember 🎥The film was produced by the Information Department of the Administration of the Governor of St. Petersburg, commissioned by the Government of St. Petersburg, with the support of JSC "GATR" and the Archives Committee.

#FacesOfVictory 🗓 On April 5, 1923, Soviet fighter pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union Timur Frunze was born. The son of Mikhail Frunze, a renowned Soviet military leader, revolutionary, and prominent Civil War commander, Timur was destined for a military career from childhood. After losing his parents and grandmother early in life, he was taken under the care of Kliment Voroshilov, who served as People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the Soviet Union. At the age of 10, Timur was enrolled in a specialised Air Forces school. Upon completing his studies there, he continued his training at the Myasnikov Kacha Red Banner Military Aviation School, which he graduated with honours in 1941 and was commissioned with the rank of lieutenant. ✍️ Timur’s teachers recognised both his determination and his natural ability. In a service review, his course director, Senior Lieutenant Nemykin, wrote: “I have never met a young man who so eagerly absorbed new knowledge. His interests extend far beyond the curriculum...” Beginning in 1938, Timur served in the Red Army. After he finished flight school in September 1941, Air Forces command initially intended to keep the young pilot away from the front lines so he could build experience in the rear. However, Frunze strongly insisted on being sent to the front. In December 1941, he was assigned to the 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment on the Soviet Northwestern Front, where he flew a Yak-1 fighter aircraft. During his service, Frunze completed nine combat missions, shooting down two enemy aircraft alone and one as a member of a two-person crew. 🕯 On January 19, 1942, his life was tragically cut short: at just 18 years old, Timur died in an unequal battle against seven enemy fighters. The Soviet pilot was buried with full military honours at the cemetery in the village of Kresttsy, Novgorod Region. After the war, his remains were reinterred at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. 🎖 On March 16, 1942, by an executive order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Lieutenant Timur Frunze was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. #Victory81#WeRemember

#Victory81 🌟 On February 2, 1943, the #BattleOfStalingrad — one of the most brutal battles of the Great Patriotic War and #WW2, which turned the tide of that terrible and bloody conflict — concluded with the total and complete defeat of the Nazi forces. The fight for Stalingrad lasted for2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days and nights, surpassing all previous battles in world history both in scale and intensity. The combat to the death took place in Stalingrad for each and every alley, every house, every inch of the ground. During that battle, more than 2.1 million people were involved on both sides. The Nazi invaders, obsessed with the illusion of their superiority and strive to enslave the Soviet people, failed in Stalingrad — never ever had the Germans managed to break the spirit or morale of the defenders of our Motherland. The Red Army soldiers, showing unparalleled courage,braveryandheroism, stood their ground with steadfastness and achieved a great victory that would eventually define the outcome of the entire #WWII. The Nazi war machine suffered a crushing and catastrophic defeat, which, as history would show, was fatal for Germany. ☝️ At Stalingrad, the Red Army showed that the Third Reich and Nazism are beatable, that they can and will be destroyedonce and for all. *** In the summer of 1942, the Nazi troops launched another major offensive on the southern flank of the Soviet–German front. At that time, the target was #Stalingrad— a key industrial and transport hub on the Volga river. Had the Nazis succeeded, Hitler’s barbarians would have severed crucial supply lines, seized the rich agricultural regions of Kuban and Stavropol, and broken through to the Caucasus, where they hoped to capture abundant oilfields. The entire power of the Nazi war machine fell on Stalingrad on July 17 — the city’s heroic defence commenced. The enemy committed up to 80 Wehrmacht divisions to that attack, followed by savage combat for the city raging almost all around the clock days and nights. The Soviet defenders fought firmly, leaving not a single inch of our Motherland. The Wehrmacht troops, commanded by infamous Nazi General Friedrich Paulus (it was him who devised operation 'Barbarossa' plan — Germany’s treacherous attack on the Soviet Union) were confronted by the Soviet 62nd and 64th armies. Vasily Chuikov, the commander of the 62nd Army, is rightly considered to be one of the architects of the victory at Stalingrad — the brilliant tactician, he refined and put into practice assault-group strategy that became key to our triumph in Stalingrad. By mid-November 1942, after fierce and lasting resistance and regrouping of forces, the Red Army created favourable conditions to launch counter-offensive near Stalingrad👉 from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the Soviet forces brilliantly executed the operation 'Ring', having successfully encircled Nazis 6th Army in “cauldron” between the Don and Volga rivers. OnJanuary 31, Field Marshal Paulus and his staff unconditionally surrendered. On February 2, the last pockets of Nazis' resistance were eliminated, with Germany’s 'axis' troopscompletely destroyed. 🎖 The Battle of Stalingrad ended in aRed Army's brilliant military triumph. The Nazis lost up to 1/4 of all the personnel and equipment deployed on the entire Eastern Front. Since then,the word “Stalingrad” has echoed, and will forever echo, in the hearts and collective memory of our people as an enduring reminder of the Great Heroic Feat performed by the defenders of our Motherland. *** On November 29, 1943, during the Tehran Conference, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill presented Joseph Stalin with a sword specially forged by the order of King George VI in tribute to the courage and resilience of Stalingrad defenders. Inscribed on the blade were the words: TO THE STEEL-HEARTED CITIZENS OF STALINGRAD • THE GIFT OF KING GEORGE VI • IN TOKEN OF THE HOMAGE OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE The sword became an iconic commemorative relic, symbolising the Anglo-American allies’ eternal tribute to the Heroic Soviet victorious generation.

#Victory81 🌟 On April 11, 1944, during the Crimean offensive operation, Soviet forces liberated #Kerch from Nazi occupiers. Kerch was among the first cities to endure assaults from Hitler’s army at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It found itself repeatedly on the front line, with the battlefront cutting through its very streets. Moreover, the city fell under enemy occupation twice. Initially captured in November 1941, Kerch was liberated barely a month later in December, following the Kerch–Feodosia amphibious landing operation. In the spring of 1942, the enemy amassed significant forces on the Kerch Peninsula and launched a renewed offensive. Despite the valiant resistance by the defenders, the city once again came under fascist control, remaining occupied for 320 days. During that period, approximately 15,000 civilians lost their lives, and over 14,000 individuals were forcibly deported to Germany for slave labour. 🕯#NoStatuteOfLimitations: The Bagerovo Ditch near Kerch gained tragic notoriety – a site of mass executions. Towards the end of 1941, around 7,000 people were executed and tortured there, including 245 schoolchildren. The Germans surreptitiously removed the children from the city and poisoned them with potassium cyanide. The Nazi occupiers obliterated every factory, burned bridges and vessels, destroyed parks, and decimated the city’s infrastructure. Kerch was almost completely erased from the map. One of the war’s most heroic episodes was the defence of the Adzhimushkay quarry. Thousands of civilians – elderly people, women, and children – sought refuge within the underground passages. The enemy attempted to exterminate them by sealing the entrances and using explosives and toxic substances. Nearly all the defenders perished, yet they continued to resist to the very end, rendering the quarry a symbol of unyielding courage and resilience. ⚔️ On the night of November 1, 1943, the Kerch-Eltigen amphibious landing operation commenced. Soviet forces established a bridgehead north of the city, marking a crucial phase in liberating the Kerch Strait and the entire Crimea. In the spring of 1944, this success was solidified during the Crimean offensive operation, culminating in the expulsion of the occupiers from the peninsula. One of Kerch’s principal symbols became the Obelisk of Glory on Mount Mithridat, unveiled on August 8, 1944 – the first monument in the USSR dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. 🎖 For the defence and liberation of the city, 153 individuals were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 21 military units and formations received the honorary designation “Kerch.” On September 14, 1973, Kerch was awarded the title #HeroCity.

#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

#HistoryOfDiplomacy 🗓 On February 4, 1945, the Yalta Conference of the Leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition — Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — officially commenced. The #YaltaConference stands as one of the most significant summits of the 'Big Three' Leaders during #WW2. The landmark talks in Yalta came to symbolise the successful cooperation of Moscow, Washington, and London in their common fightagainst the terrible evil the mankind had ever faced —the Nazi ideology. The historic agreements reached at the Forum defined the foundations of the post-war Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations, whose legal basis would be the #UNCharter. 💬 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: The participants in the Yalta Conference managed to overcome their differences, and, acting in the spirit of true solidarity, mutual respect and trust, abandoned their fleeting interests for the sake of defeating the common enemy and achieving a common victory, peace and freedom for all countries and peoples. *** 🌟 By early 1945, the Red Army had fully liberated the Soviet Union from the Nazi invaders and was mounting a decisive offensive: by January, the Nazi troops had been expelled from Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz, and most of Poland. The Soviet forces had secured strategically important bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder river and were preparing for the final battle of #WWII — the fight for the Reich’s capital — Berlin. As the Red Army advanced rapidly from the Vistula-Oder direction, UK-American units were pushing towards the Rhine river. Despite fierce resistance from elite units of the Nazi war machine, Germany’s defeat was inevitable. With the common Victory approaching, the discussing issues the post-war world order became a top priority for the Allied Powers. Thus, it was decided to convene a major conference, with the Soviet city of Yalta chosen as the venue (February 4-11, 1945). A central focus of the #CrimeanConference was the post-war future of the defeated Germany. The Allies reaffirmed their commitment to the eradication of German militarism and Nazism and to ensuring that “Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” It was also agreed that Germany would be obliged to pay reparations for the damage inflicted by its aggression. During the Yalta negotiations, the 'Big Three' Leaders reached a compromise on the issue ofPoland’s borders.The Soviet delegation firmly advocated for Poland’s fundamental interests, upholding its right to independence and sovereignty. Churchill later described the Soviet Union’s historic role in liberating Poland from Nazism in his memoirs: But for the prodigious exertions and sacrifices of Russia, Poland was doomed to utter destruction at the hands of the Germans. Not only Poland as a State and as a nation, but the Poles as a race were doomed by Hitler to be destroyed or reduced to a servile station The considerable growth in the USSR’s international prestige significantly influenced the course and outcomes of the Yalta negotiations. This was due, in large part, to the Red Army’s remarkable successes on the battlefield. The image of the Soviet soldier as a Liberator was cemented, and the world recognised Soviet people's immense Sacrifice and Achievement in WWII The Conference produced several crucial documents, including the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which helped shape the international system for decades. The framework for the future #UnitedNations also took clearer form. Following Yalta, the Soviet Union secured agreement on the “principle of unanimity” among the five permanent UN Security Council members, embodied in the right of veto — #UNCharterIsOurRules. The Yalta agreements strengthened the unity of the anti-Hitler coalition in the final stages of World War II and contributed to the ultimate common victory over Germany. In the post-war years, ensuring the implementation of the Yalta decisions became a key objective of Soviet diplomacy. #Victory81#WeWereAllies