The leadership of the Vitebsk region congratulates the residents of the region on the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory

We congratulate you on the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory!

This holiday embodies the triumph of freedom, the joy of those who returned from the war, faith in one's own strength, and pride in the Fatherland.

The road to the victorious salute of 1945 was unimaginably difficult. To defend freedom and independence, our people had to experience grief, suffering, and the pain of irreparable losses. Millions of Soviet people became a living shield against the treacherous aggressor. Among those who first took the blow of the hated enemy was our native Belarus, our Vitebsk region.

Hundreds of settlements in the region turned into sites of fierce and decisive battles. Our compatriots bravely repelled the invaders' attacks, shedding blood on the fronts, in partisan detachments, and in anti-fascist resistance groups. Nazism received retribution for all its atrocities and outrages – the evil force of fascism was defeated. We paid with the lives of every third resident of the region for the victory in the Great Patriotic War. 127 of our countrymen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

With the deepest respect, we pay tribute to the memory of those who fell on the fiery fields of battle, were burned alive, shot by punitive detachments, and died from wounds in hospitals. We express our gratitude for the military and peaceful labor to the generation of victors – the keepers of historical truth, the bearers of traditions of national unity, resilience, and love for the Motherland.

Today, the memory of the military events of the last century unites everyone: both the participants of the battles and those who know about the feat from books, films, and veterans' memories. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer living witnesses of those terrible days of wartime hardship among us. The veterans who remain in service are a moral support for contemporaries, whose duty is to prevent the emergence of new deadly doctrines and the repetition of scenarios of armed conflicts.

We wholeheartedly wish you health, happiness, well-being, high spirits, peace, and goodness!

Happy holiday! Happy Victory Day!