News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 9 May (BelTA) – The country takes pride in the fact that the Belarusian nation has made an invaluable contribution to the victory over the Nazi. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement during the ceremony held on 9 May to lay wreaths at the Victory Monument in Minsk on the occasion of the 71^st anniversary of the Soviet nation’s victory in the Great Patriotic War, BelTA has learned.

“We are proud of the fact that the Belarusian nation has made an invaluable contribution to the victory over the Nazi. The nation’s sons and daughters fought to the bitter end in the Brest Fortress, they courageously fought in the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk and during the forced crossing of the Dnieper River. Belarusians helped free Warsaw and Prague, Budapest and Vienna. They fought to capture Berlin,” noted Alexander Lukashenko.

The President reminded that about 1.3 million Belarusians fought on the frontlines, with over 400 of them awarded the distinguished title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

“This year we celebrate Victory Day with tears of joy and with tears of pain we celebrate the mournful 75^th anniversary of the day when Nazi Germany launched its treacherous assault against the Soviet Union,” said the head of state.

Belarus was the first USSR republic to feel the brunt of the Nazi assault. “It was here that for the first time since World War Two began, the smug conquerors of Europe met the true resistance that disrupted their blitzkrieg plans. Resistance to the aggressors grew every day since the occupation regime was enforced in the Belarusian land. In the period our underground resistance fighters destroyed over 0.5 million Nazi soldiers and officers. At least as much as the allied armies of the United States of America and Great Britain destroyed after the Western Front was opened,” noted Alexander Lukashenko. “The railroad war nearly halved the supplies of armaments and materiel to frontline German troops and secured the success of the strategic plans of the entire war. Operation Bagration was one of them. It ended with the destruction of the German army group Center and Belarus’ liberation. It is my answer to those, who are trying to besmirch the history of the resistance movement in Belarusian land,” stressed the President. Even Hitler, who was infuriated by effective actions of the underground resistance fighters, declared operations against them equal to frontline operations.