During the years of Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) major battles for liberation from fascism took place mostly on the territory of Ukraine.

The course of war has been drastically changed after the Stalingrad battle (November 1942 - February 1943).

The first Ukrainian settlements to be liberated from Germans in December 1942, situated in the East Donbas. The final liberation of Ukrainian territory began during the Kursk Bulge battle (July 5 – August 23, 1943). On August 23, the Steppe front troops liberated Kharkiv. During September-October 1943, as the Germans tried to establish an unassailable strategic defence line along the Dnipro riverbank, the heroic battle for the Dnipro took place. The apex of the battle was the liberation of Kyiv from the Fritz.

During January 1943 – October 1944, in the course of Ukrainian territories’ liberation four Ukrainian fronts (counting more than 2,3 mln. people) carried out a series of bright offensive operations. The most prominent of them were as follows: Voronezh-Kharkiv (January 13 – March 3, 1943), Donbas (August 13 – September 22, 1943), Chernihiv-Poltava (August 26 – September 30, 1943), Korsun-Shevchenko (December 24, 1943 – February 17, 1944) and Lviv-Sandomyr (July 13- August 29, 1944).

The liberation of Ukraine was ended by the Carpathian operation, launched on September 9, 1944. On October 27, 1944, Uzhhorod became free and on October 28, the Soviet troops were already on the modern border of our State.

It has already become a tradition that this day commemoration ceremonies take place. We remember the warriors that fell in the battles on the territory of Ukraine and those people who suffered from the Fritz invaders.

According to the data of historians, the number of soldiers killed during the warfare on Ukrainian lands reaches about three million Soviet soldiers; more than two millions of Ukrainians were forced out from the country to work strenuously in Germany during the occupation. Over 700 towns and 28, 000 villages were destroyed partially or entirely, about 10 million people were left roofless, and more than 16, 000 enterprises were eliminated on the territory of the republic in that period.

During the Great Patriotic War about 2,5 mln. Ukrainians were awarded with war decorations. Among them we can also name a lot of reconnaissance men.

Today it would be necessary to remember the names of some of our compatriots who, thanks to their courage and selfless love to the Motherland, all the strengths and sometimes at the price of their own life, made the liberation day of Ukraine real.