#Victory81

🌟 On May 9, 1945, at 0:43 am Moscow time (May 8, 22:43 CET), the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of the Nazi Germany was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin.

That document heralded the #GreatVictory of the Soviet people over the Nazi Reich, marking the final end of #WWII on European ToO, and the ultimate collapse of Hitler's fascism.

The surrender was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Soviet Union and Deputy Commander of the Allied forces Marshal Arthur Tedder on behalf of the Western Allies. From the German side, the Instrument was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff, & Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.

🎙 At 2:30 am of May 9, in Moscow, newscaster Yury Levitan announced the text of the German Instrument of Surrender to the people of the Soviet Union, proclaiming May 9 as Victory Day:

The Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet people waged against the Nazi invaders, has been victoriously concluded.

Fascist Germany has been crushed.

Eternal glory to the Heroes who fell fighting for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. <...>

🖋 From the memoirs by military correspondent Konstantin Simonov:

Zhukov stands up and says:

The German delegation may leave the hall. The Germans stand up. Keitel… turns on his heel and leaves. And instantaneously, all tension in the room relaxes, and everybody exhales in unison.

The act of surrender has been signed, and the war is over.

***

Nazi Germany’s final & unconditional surrender to the Allies in Karlshorst was preceded by several local capitulations of the Nazi troops along various frontlines. Moreover, in April 1945, certain Nazi military leaders, who were aware that the Third Reich’s collapse was imminent, fearing justice for their crimes, sought secret talks with US-UK command, trying to divide the Allied anti-Hitler coalition.

Desperate to surrender to the Western allies, on May 5, the Nazi delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Allied command was located. There, on May 7, the Act of Military Surrender was signed. However, article 4 of the document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act: “This act of military surrender… will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender… applicable to Germany and the German troops as a whole.”

Due to that, the Soviet leadership deemed the Reims document only as a preliminary document, believing that the official surrender of the Nazis had to be ensured in Berlin — the city where the Nazi aggression originated from.

At the Soviet government’s request, the main and final ceremony of surrender took place. On the night of May 9, the German Instrument of Surrender was signed in Karlshorst. The Nazi government was dissolved. The defeated German troops laid down arms.

#WW2 in Europe was finally over. It ended with the greatest triumph of the Soviet people.

Nazism was defeated.

The Reich was no more.

💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (excerpt from a briefing, May 7, 2026):

This May 9 marks the 81st Anniversary of defeating Nazi Germany. This day is a celebration of triumph of life, freedom, and independence for all the peoples of the post-Soviet countries.

<...>

None of us was meant to survive. But we did survive because our forefathers prevailed.

The cost of our common Victory — 27 million lives of our compatriots, representatives of all the peoples and republics of the Soviet Union, who died defending our Motherland <...>

Twenty-seven million lives lost.

Those who died in captivity, in ghettos, were taken into slavery, died of starvation, or fell victim to other acts of genocide.

We remember them all. And we will keep their memory alive.

🎙 Address by President of Russia – Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin at the military parade marking the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945

📍 Moscow, May 9, 2026

💬 Vladimir Putin: I congratulate you on Victory Day – our sacred, radiant and most important holiday!

We sacredly honour the legacy and behests of the soldiers of Victory. Care for the Fatherland unites our entire country and all the people of Russia, while preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic War, its true history and real heroes is a matter of honour for us.

We will always remember the feat of the Soviet people – the fact that it was they who made the decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazism, saved their country, saved the world, put an end to total and merciless evil, and restored sovereignty to those states that had capitulated to Hitler’s Germany and become obedient accomplices in its crimes.

June 22, 1941 is one of the most tragic and sorrowful dates in our history. This year marks 85 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

The Nazis treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. They planned to seize the country and its vast resources, completely destroy its culture and our historical heritage, and ultimately exterminate, enslave and commit genocide against the entire multi-ethnic Soviet people – precisely all peoples, nations and ethnic groups of the Soviet Union.

To carry out these criminal objectives, forces were gathered from across Europe. Nazi strategists seemed to have meticulously accounted for everything – except one thing: what is known as Russian character and the strength of spirit of the Soviet people.

🕯 We bow our heads before those who fell in battle. Before those who were tortured under occupation and in captivity, who died of starvation in besieged Leningrad, in other encircled cities and settlements. Before all those who gave their lives for the Motherland, for Russia. We bow our heads to the memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends.

***

The great feat of the victorious generation inspires the warriors who are today carrying out the goals of the special military operation. They are confronting an aggressive force that is being armed and supported by the entire NATO.

☝️ And despite this, our heroes are advancing.

Alongside Russian warriors stand workers and designers, engineers, scientists and inventors. They are carrying on the traditions of their predecessors, relying on modern combat experience to create advanced and unique weapons systems and launch their mass production.

I am strongly convinced that our cause is just! We are together! Victory has always been and will always be ours!

Glory to the victorious people! Glory to our veterans! Glory to the Armed Forces of Russia!

Happy Victory Day! Hurrah!

🥇 #Victory81