Lukashenko: We remember our heroes, but we also remember the pain, grief, and suffering of millions

Alexander Lukashenko sincerely and heartfeltly presented a joint Address to the Peoples of the Commonwealth countries and the world community at the CIS summit in Moscow in connection with the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

This was one of the items on the agenda of the extended meeting, BELTA reported.

The head of state thanked the heads of state for the right to present this address. "Our country has been given this right by history itself - the history of the Soviet Republic, the first to take the blow of the Wehrmacht divisions, the first to stop their victorious march across Europe. This right was given to us by the heroes who stood to the death in the Brest Fortress and on the approaches to all Belarusian cities, blocking the way to Moscow. Representatives of almost 70 nationalities fought shoulder to shoulder with the Belarusians. And everyone knew that they were confronting absolute world evil," said Alexander Lukashenko.

He emphasized that today the names of many are immortalized in the names of avenues and streets of Belarusian cities, in monuments and memorials. Among them are Marshal of Victory Georgy Zhukov; Heroes of the Soviet Union Azerbaijani Rafiyev, Armenian Avakyan, Kazakh Iskaliyev, Kyrgyz Asanaliev, Tajik Azizov, Turkmen Annayev, Uzbek Yakubov and many others.

"We remember our heroes. But we also remember the pain, grief, and suffering of millions of our compatriots. Every 30 seconds, the bell of Khatyn reminds us that over 600 Belarusian villages were burned down along with women, children, and old people," the head of state noted. "No matter how many years have passed, we still hear the echo of the silent cry for help from the exhausted residents of besieged Leningrad, the cry of millions of Soviet mothers and children whose sons, daughters, and fathers did not return from the battlefields."