By Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK | 7 May 2025 (IDN) — Russia celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany and holds its annual Victory Day parade on Red Square on May 9.
Praising Russia as a nation of winners, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said that “the victory was a profound symbol of national resilience, as the USSR lost an estimated 26.6 million lives during the War”.
“For victory, no one spared themselves,” Putin said, “Russia, due to its scale, of course made the greatest contribution to this victory. It gave the most — its sons and daughters who died defending the motherland and our common future”.
According to reliable sources more than 29 foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the Victory Day commemoration in Moscow.
Epic Battles inside Russia from 1941-1945
To comprehend why the Russians remember and revere the “Great Patriotic War”, we need to glance at some of the horrifying but heroic battles against Nazi barbarity.
The Siege of Leningrad, Sep 1941-Jan 1944. The War’s infamous Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) lasted 900 days, and cost the lives of more than one million city residents. Its people had to endure starvation and cruelties that anyone in Western Europe or North America could hardly imagine.
The Battle of Moscow, Oct 1941-Jan 1942. Hitler sent a battalion of million German troops to Moscow with orders to raze the City of Moscow to the ground if it cannot be captured. The Red Army foiled Germans attempts and banished them out of Moscow – at a staggering cost of one million Russian casualties.
The Battle of Stalingrad, Aug 1942-Feb 1943 was the deadliest single battle in history, with an estimated 2.5 million casualties – both military personnel and civilians.
The Battle of Kursk, July-Sep 1943, was the largest tank battle involving some two million troops, 6,000 tanks, and 4,000 aircraft, it marked the end of the German offensive capability on the Eastern Front. The Soviets lost more than 800,000 soldiers in this battle.
The Battle of Berlin, April-May 1945, was the final major decisive counter-attack by the Red Army. Commandeered by Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev, the Red Army forged their way through Eastern European nations liberating them from the Nazi occupation. It was a bloody battle as Hitler forced 750,000 German troops to fight a desperate final defense against the advancing Red Army.
“Anyone who loves freedom owes such a debt to the Red Army that it can never be repaid.” — Ernest Hemingway.
According to official records, the Soviet army deployed more than 2,500,000 soldiers, 7,500 aircraft, and 6,250 tanks for the final onslaught against the Germans. It is estimated that around 80,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and another 280,000 were wounded in the Berlin attack.
On April 30, 1945, The Germans surrendered to the Russian Army and Hitler committed suicide. The Battle of Berlin ended on May 2, 1945, and on May 9, 1945, Germans signed the declaration ending the war with Russia- that the Russians proudly celebrate.
Historical records show that Germany suffered 10 million deaths including 5.3 million military losses, mostly inside Russia and during the final battles in Germany.
Altogether, in the former Soviet Union, nearly 27 million Soviets (including military and civilians (mostly Russians) lost their lives, and the whole country was literally destroyed.
It was thanks to Stalin’s leadership, and the fortitude of the Red Army that defeated Nazi Germany – and saved Russia and liberated Eastern Europe from the Germans. It is the single most important day in Russian history that elicits a strong feeling of pride and patriotic fervor that binds the nation together.
Nuremberg Trials
According to the testimony presented by General Roman Rudenko at the Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, the largest number of civilian deaths in a single city occurred during the Siege of Leningrad – during which approximately 1.2 million Russians died.
According to General Rudenko, the combined damage in Russia consisted of complete or partial destruction of 1,710 cities and towns, 70,000 villages, 98,000 collective farms, 2,508 churches, 31,850 factories, 40,000 miles of railroad, 4,100 railroad stations, 6,000 hospitals, 84,000 schools, 43,000 public libraries, and left 25 million homeless – as a direct result of the war.
Appalled by the extent of the carnage during a visit to Russia, Dwight Eisenhower, Commander in Europe during the war, wrote, “When we flew into Russia, in 1945, I did not see a house standing between the western borders of the country and the area around Moscow”.
Thus, on May 9, 1945, after four years of violent battles inside Russia – recorded as the bloodiest and most destructive military conflict in the whole history of humanity – the Russians defeated Nazi Germany in World War II.
Other atrocities during the Second World War
According to Wikipedia, an estimated total of 70–85 million people around the world perished during the War, and many of them died due to deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation.
Among poignant atrocities are the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the firebombing raid on Tokyo; and Hitler’s deliberate pogrom of extermination that systematically killed over 11 million people.
Saying that, “The Red Army was the main engine of Nazism’s destruction” the British historian, Max Hastings wrote, “It was the Western Allies’ extreme good fortune that the Russians, and not themselves, paid almost the entire ‘butcher’s bill’ for [defeating Nazi Germany], accepting 95 percent of the military casualties of the three major powers of the Grand Alliance.”
Devastated Russia rebuilt its military power
After the War, the Russians rebuilt their country and its military might to prevent any future attack on their country. In 1949, Russia added nuclear weapons to its arsenal and in 1961 it detonated its largest nuclear weapon “Tsar Bomba” with a yield of 50 megatons (equivalent to the power of 3,800 Hiroshima bombs).
Lately, Russia has developed a range of modern unparalleled weapons systems, including advanced missiles, hypersonic weapons, and conventional arms.
World on the edge of mutual annihilation
Currently, with many conflicts and wars raging around the world, a few megalomaniacs are clamoring to begin a nuclear war that could be nothing but mutual annihilation – ending this modern civilization on earth.
For the sake of global security and peace, I wish to emphasize that all nations should respect the United Nations Charter, adhere to International Law, use diplomacy and peaceful means to resolve international conflicts, and work harmoniously to establish peace, justice, security and prosperity for all. It’s not just about peace. It’s about the survival of all life on earth.
On the eve of the Victory Parade, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declared, ”This year we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. This holiday unites millions of people on the planet. It is dear to everyone who keeps the sacred memory of the immortal feat of the victorious generation, of the true, genuine heroes who crushed Nazism, defended their homeland and saved the peoples of Europe from enslavement”.
(The above figures about the war were extracted from my publication “Our Divided World: My View from the United Nations”).
*Somar Wijayadasa, an international lawyer was the Delegate of UNESCO to the UN General Assembly (1978-1995), Director of the UNAIDS Office in New York, and simultaneously, the Representative of UNAIDS at the United Nations in New York (1995-2000). [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image: The iconic “Raising a flag over the Reichstag” photo by Yevgeny Khaldei. Published: Ogoniok magazine (No 19, 1945) 1945-05-13 on 1st, title page (not on cover). Source: Wikipedia
