▪️ On September 8, 1941, the Siege of Leningrad began — one of the most horrific and tragic events not only of the Great Patriotic War but of the entire World War II.

The siege lasted for 872 days and claimed the lives of approximately 1 million residents of the city, including more than 600'000 people who died from 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.

***

In early September 1941, during the Leningrad Defensive Operation of the Red Army, the city was cut off by the Nazis from all land routes. On September 8, Hitler's troops captured Shlisselburg, completing the encirclement. The city was bombarded daily with artillery.

The Nazis planned to erase the city from the face of the earth and exterminate all its inhabitants.

▪️ From Hitler’s directive “On the Future of the City of Petersburg”:

The Führer has decided to wipe the city of Petersburg off the face of the earth. After the defeat of the Soviet Army, the continued existence of this city will have no further purpose... <...>

The proposal is to tightly blockade the city and level it to the ground using artillery of all calibers and unceasing aerial bombardment.

If, due to the situation in the city, any declarations of surrender are made, they should be rejected.

The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: maintain the siege, strictly enforce the blockade, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population.

❗️But Leningrad endured and never stopped fighting.

Under unbearable conditions, the city's industrial enterprises continued to operate. During the blockade, workers produced or repaired about 2'000 tanks, 1'500 aircraft, 850 warships and vessels of various classes, as well as 225'000 submachine guns, 12'000 mortars, and 7.5 million shells and mines.

The only hope for salvation for hundreds of thousands of residents was evacuation and the transport of vital supplies across Lake Ladoga — by water in summer, and over ice in winter. This route became known as the “Road of Life”. Transport across Lake Ladoga rightly ranks among the greatest operations of the Great Patriotic War.

The most famous memorial to the victims of the blockade is the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Saint Petersburg — the largest mass military grave of World War II. Over 420'000 Leningrad residents and 70'000 defenders of the city are buried there.

#Victory80

🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive.

Soviet forces pushed the Nazis back 220–280 kilometers from Leningrad. The city was completely freed from enemy encirclement, and the barbaric shelling and air raids were permanently ended.

***

In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the German occupying forces — 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 act of genocide against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union.

💬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Historical memory must be preserved. This is necessary to ensure that tragedies like those our people endured during the Great Patriotic War never happen again.

There is also a practical reason — we must promptly react to the emerging threats against our country.

(at a meeting with Great Patriotic War veterans, residents of besieged Leningrad and representatives of patriotic public associations, January 18, 2023)

🇷🇺 WWII veterans at the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre (Toronto) received commemorative awards and greetings.

📆 On September 12, 2025, Consul General of Russia in Toronto Vladlen Epifanov presented the jubilee medal “80 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945” to Sima Yuryevna Veselaya (b. January 1, 1923), a veteran of the Great Patriotic War and the war with Japan, nurse of the 3rd Belorussian and Far Eastern Fronts, recipient of the medals “For the Victory over Germany” and “For the Victory over Japan.”

🇷🇺🇧🇾 Earlier, members of the Russian compatriot community also presented her with a jubilee medal on behalf of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

🔴 In addition, Sima Yuryevna and fellow veterans Viktor Ulyanovich Khomenko, Alexandra Dmitrievna Zverkova, Ksenia Tarasovna Anisimova, and Nadezhda Kirillovna Starcha (all over 100 years old!) received greetings from President of Russia Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II.

🕯 We honor the memory and living example of these heroes, guardians of our history.

🔴🔴 No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!

#Victory80 #WeRemember

#Victory80

🌟 On September 14, 1944, the Red Army launched the Baltic strategic offensive operation. Its primary goal was to liberate the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics from the Nazi scourge by defeating the enemies' Army group 'North' and expelling the German troops.

The goal was achieved, although the task was arduous! Following the operation, the Nazi troops were encircled in the so-called Courland Pocket (where the enemy resisted until the vary May of 1945), and thereafter ultimately eliminated by the Red Army.

#NoStatuteOfLimitations

Having invaded the Baltic region in the summer of 1941, instead of providing the “independence” promised to the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, the Nazis established the occupation regime in the Soviet Baltics, which was characterized by terror and genocide. The Nazis' plan was to make the region a part of the German Reichskommissariat Ostland.

▪️ When the Nazis occupied Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the local radical nationalists and pro-fascist organisations raised their heads there and swore allegiance to Hitler. Doing the dirty job for their Nazi masters, the Baltic collaborators carried out atrocities with extreme cruelty, executing civilians, burning villages, and organising massacres. With their involvement, more than 100'000 people were annihilated in concentration camps, such as Salaspils and Klooga.

👉 Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian collaborators also took part in the mass executions in the neighbouring regions of the Soviet Union (including in Belarus). They were also involved in the Nazis' campaign to exterminate Jews. The blood of hundreds of thousands of civilians and POWs is on the hands of those criminals.

Today, unfortunately, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania glorify those Nazi criminals on the governmental level, with monuments unveiled in the honour of the Nazi Baltic henchmen and gatherings held in the Baltics to commemorate Waffen-SS legionnaires, other Nazi collaborators, and their adherents.

***

During #WWII, the Baltic region was of crucial strategic importance to the Reich on the Eastern front. The control over the region allowed the Nazis to rule over the Gulf of Finland from the south and the eastern Baltic, and to ensure uninterrupted deliveries of Swedish and Norwegian raw materials critical for the Nazi war machine, such as iron ore, coal, and others.

The Nazis extracted agricultural resources from Latvia and Lithuania, while Estonia alone provided Nazi Germany with nearly half a million tonnes of oil products annually.

❗️ Furthermore, the Baltic region shielded the way to East Prussia — the stronghold of German militarism. So, the Nazis were seeking to retain the Baltic bridgehead at any cost.

The Nazis installed in the Baltics powerful fortifications, designed for long-term defence, including the so-called Tannenberg Line — a complex of heavy fortified lines and trenches stretching for more than 50 km long and 25-30 km deep, located about 20-25 km west of Narva — on the isthmus between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus (Chudskoye).

⚔️ On September 14, 1944, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts of the Red Army launched the strategic offensive towards Riga. Within just three days, the Soviet forces advanced up to 50 km. On September 22, Tallinn was liberated, followed by Riga on October 13.

The final stage of the operation was the liberation of the Moonsund archipelago in northwestern Estonia: by November 24, the Nazi troops were expelled from the islands of Ösel (today’s Saaremaa) and Dago (Hiiumaa).

As a result of the Baltic strategic offensive operation, the Red Army inflicted a crushing defeat to the enemy. The Nazi army group 'North' was mostly destroyed, with its remnants trapped on the Courland Peninsula, unable to engage further in Germany’s eastern defences in 1945.

🎖 112 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 332,000 received orders and medals.

#WeRemember

#Victory80

🌟 On November 1, 1944, the Battle of the Arctic concluded — a series of defensive and offensive operations by the Red Army in the high latitudes during #WWII. The hostilities in the Arctic culminated in the decisive defeat of the Nazi troops deployed in the Far North.

As a result of the Red Army’s successful Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive (October 7–29, 1944), the enemy was expelled from North Karelia, the Murmansk Region, and north-eastern Norway.

The Third Reich’s plans to seize the strategically vital Kola Peninsula — thereby cutting off the USSR from its ice-free northern ports and access to the ocean — were thwarted once and for all.

***

By the autumn of 1944, a radical shift in the strategic situation on the northern sector of the Soviet-German front had created favourable conditions for the Red Army to liberate Arctic territories from the Nazis.

The crushing defeat of the Finnish militarists in Karelia during the summer of 1944, resulting in Finland’s — Hitler’s key ally in Europe’s Far North — withdrawal from the war, severely weakened the Wehrmacht’s position in the Arctic. Helsinki was compelled to launch operations against Nazi forces in Lapland.

⚔️ Thus, the conditions were set for a Soviet offensive into the northern latitudes. On October 7, 1944, forces of the Karelian Front under command of General of the Army Kirill Meretskov and the Northern Fleet, headed by Admiral Arseny Golovko, launched a full-front offensive, preceded by heavy artillery fire.

After three weeks of fierce combat in the Far North, Nazi troops were destroyed. By October 15, the Red Army liberated Petsamo and Luostari, alongside dozens of other communities.

In late October, the Soviet forces commenced the liberation of Norway. Their advance into the northern Kingdom gave an impetus to the Norwegian Resistance movement, with local partisan units providing substantial support for the Red Army.

Through coordinated action between the Red Army and Norwegian anti-fascist fighters, Norway's East Finnmark and later the entire northeast of the Scandinavian kingdom (up to the Tana River) were liberated. On October 25, Nazi occupants fled Kirkenes.

On October 17, 1945, Norwegian Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen wrote these words to Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars Joseph Stalin:

✍️ “The soldiers of the Red Army have fortified the friendship between our two nations, leaving the Norwegian people with feelings of gratitude and admiration for the great Soviet people.”

King of Norway Haakon VII paid tribute to the noble feat of our soldiers who saved his country from Nazism:

💬 “The war was won by the Red Army on the Eastern Front.

It was this victory that precipitated the liberation of Norwegian territory in the North.”

By November 1, Nazi invaders, having suffered heavy losses, were retreating westward. Combat operations in the Arctic ended. During the Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive, Soviet soldiers and officers showed unwavering fortitude and sacrifice.

In December 1944, the medal "For the Defence of the Soviet Arctic" was instituted, awarded to over 350'000 Red Army soldiers and officers.

🎙 An excerpt from the briefing by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (October 23, 2025):

💬 <...> "How the Norwegians managed to forget all this today and how the Norwegian leadership managed to turn away from those chapters of history <...> ?

How could they forget not only ours, but also their own Resistance fighters? <...>
Why have they forgotten?

That’s because today they are supporting those who are glorifying Nazi criminals.

They provide <...> even militarily support to them. Norway is among the first to do so". <...>

#WeRemember

#Victory80

🌟 On November 13, 1943, the Red Army's Kiev offensive concluded, having resulted in the total defeat of the German invaders and liberation of Kiev from the Nazi scourge.

The Battle for Kiev — the 'Mother of Russian Cities' — was one of the Red Army’s most intense and brutal battles during #WWII.

Expelling the enemy from Kiev and liberating nearby towns and villages came at a very high price for our country.

***

In August 1943, during the Battle of the Dnieper, the Soviet forces took hold of several bridgeheads on the right-bank of the river.

The Nazis built impregnable fortifications, which included three lines of defence around Kiev, on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Our forces faced a 500'000-strong Nazi army supported by more than 500 armoured vehicles.

⚔️ The offensive on Kiev by the forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Army General Nikolay Vatutin, began on October 12. It took the Red Army one month to capture the Lyutezh and Veliky Bukrin bridgeheads north and south of Kiev.

On November 1, the Soviet forces launched another offensive from the Veliky Bukrin Bridgehead, which tied down 10 Wehrmacht divisions and got all Nazi reserves south of Kiev engaged in combat operations.

With the support of the Soviet 3rd Guards Tank Army, the enemy’s defences were breached on the second day of the offensive. On November 3, after heavy artillery preparation, a powerful strike was delivered from the north (the Lyutezh Bridgehead), and our forces began the operation to liberate the city.

🎖 On November 5, the Red Army units entered Kiev. That same day, the first Red Banner — the symbol of Victory over the enemy — was raised in Kiev.

By the morning of November 6, the Red Army cleared the city of the Nazis. Confronted with the threat of being encircled outside Kiev, the Nazis fled westward.

Having liberated the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, the Soviet forces pursued the retreating German units. The next day, the town of Fastov was liberated, and on November 12 the enemy was expelled from Zhitomir.

As a result of the Kiev offensive, 17'500 Red Army soldiers and officers were awarded orders and medals, and 65 units and formations received the honourary 'Kiev' title.

The defeat of the German Army Group 'South' in Kiev inflicted heavy damage on the Nazi Wehrmacht and forced it to retreat along the entire frontline in Ukraine.

▪️ From the memoirs of Nazi war criminal Hitler's Field Marshal Manstein:

The armies stationed on the Dnieper north of Kiev have been thrown back far to the east… as far back as Zhitomir and Korosten.

Both these critical railway junctions, which were used to maintain contact with Army Group 'Centre', were taken by the Red Army.

The Nazis suffered one of their most devastating defeats on the Eastern front, losing strategic initiative completely and irreversibly.

***

🎙 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

💬 It is difficult to imagine that the Soviet soldiers who gave their lives to liberate Kiev from the 'Nazi plague' could have foreseen their descendants in Ukraine desecrating the memory of those to whom they owed their very existence, while simultaneously honouring Nazi criminals <...>

Eight decades later, Kiev is once again occupied, and Nazi ideology has become state policy throughout Ukraine. <...>

The day will undoubtedly come when this once-prosperous region is liberated from the dominance of Nazi-inspired forces.

(From an answer to a question by TASS News Agency regarding the 82nd anniversary of liberation of Kiev during the Great Patriotic War, November 6, 2025)

🏅 On August 26, 1943, the Battle of the Dnieper began — one of the largest and most important battles of World War II between the Red Army and Nazi invaders, with approximately, to various estimates, 4 million people engaged on both sides.

Nazi Germany’s defeat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 resulted in Hitler's loss of the strategic initiative, forcing German troops into a rapid retreat westward.

The German command expected that hastily erected fortifications from the Baltic to the Sea of Azov (Ostwall, or Eastern Wall) would halt the Red Army’s offensive, allowing the Nazis to retain important economic regions. The Dnieper River played a key role in their defences.

According to the plan of Supreme High Command of the USSR, the forces of the Central, Voronezh, Steppe, Southwestern, and Southern Fronts were tasked with launching frontal breakthrough attacks, liberating left-bank Soviet Ukraine and Donbass, reaching the Dnieper, forcing it across a wide front, capturing bridgeheads, and preventing the enemy from organising defences in right-bank Soviet Ukraine.

At the same time, the forces of the Western Front as well as the left wing of the Kalinin and Bryansk Fronts, were to advance in the Smolensk and Bryansk-Gomel directions aiming to prevent the enemy from regrouping its forces to the south.

⚔️ The battle lasted four months and unfolded in two stages:

• During the first stage (August–September), the Soviet forces reached the Dnieper.

The greatest success was achieved by the 60th Army under General Ivan Chernyakhovsky, which broke through the German defence south of Sevsk. General Konstantin Rokossovsky, who commanded the front, subsequently directed the main strike units into the breakthrough, achieving a pivotal strategic success.

In early September, the Red Army offensive spread across left-bank Ukraine and Donbass. On September 21, Soviet forces attacked from three directions, defeating the enemy’s Chernigov group, breaking the last major defensive line on the way to the Dnieper. On the same day, the soldiers of the Central Front reached the river.

• The second stage (September–December) saw a fierce struggle for bridgeheads. Pursuing the Nazis, the Red Army soldiers and officers began crossing the Dnieper, often in icy water, using any available floating craft, under constant enemy fire. Despite these harsh conditions, Soviet assault groups successfully crossed the river, attacked the Wehrmacht’s positions, and established landing sites for the main forces.

During the Battle of the Dnieper, the Red Army dealt a crushing blow to the main forces of Army Group South and part of Army Group Centre, fully achieving the goals set by the Supreme High Command. Over 38'000 localities, including 160 cities, among them Kiev, the capital of Soviet Ukraine, were liberated.

During the 778 days of the Nazi occupation of Kiev, thousands of its residents and Soviet POWs were killed, tens of thousands of Jews were executed in the Babi Yar,t and approximately 100'000 residens were forced into hard labour in Germany by the Nazis and their collaborators – Ukrainian nationalists.

🎖 Around 400'000 Soviet soldiers and officers lost their lives in the Battle of the Dnieper. More than 2'400 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

🌟 The Red Army’s victory in the Battle of the Dnieper thwarted the Wehrmacht’s plans to stabilise the front along the river, creating conditions for an offensive in Belarus and paving the way for the liberation of right-bank Soviet Ukraine and Crimea. By breaking through the Eastern Wall, the Wehrmacht lost its last opportunity to drag the war into a protracted conflict on Soviet soil.

#Victory80