12.09.2009
Donbass Honours Memory Of Red Army,
Liberator Of The Area From NazisDONETSK, September 6 (Itar-Tass) - Thousands upon thousands of people - residents of the Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine as well as from Russian regions bordering Donbass (Eds: Donetsk coal basin) gathered on Saturday at the foot of the grandiose memorial complex Saur-Mogila. The liberation of Eastern Ukraine from Nazis started with the assault of this hill in 1943, from the top of which the Ukrainian steppe is seen for dozens of kilometres. The capture of Saur-Mogila helped to break through the defenceline, built by Nazis they hastily called "Eastern border of the Great Germany". Last Saturday, grandsons of Red Army men who had launched an attack to break through the Mius-front in the summer of 1943, reconstructed the assault on the hill. They included cadets of a police school and of the Donetsk military lyceum who, shouting "Hurray", broke through sham "fire" and real smoke to the hilltop. When shots died away, the voice of Yuri Levitan (Eds: Levitan was key announcer of Soviet broadcasting network whom Hitler intended to hang among the first) resounding over the steppe, read out Stalin's order of September 8, 1943 that Moscow would salute liberators of Donbass with 20 artillery salvos from 224 guns. Rally participants met with joy a report by Viktor Yanukovich, leader of the Ukrainian Party of Regions, that his party put forth an initiative to create a monument to Liberator People and to put it up at "the confluence" of the borders of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia - the republics which made the greatest contribution to the rout of Germany. Turning later to reporters, Yanukovich stressed that representatives of various generations gather on this hill every year on the Donbass Liberation Day and on the V-Day. These events show that the memory of people is eternal. "Now that we hear attempts to re-write history, to heroize traitors of Ukraine and nationalists, we understand pretty well that Ukrainian people will never permit this. "Our generation will never permit this. We know who brought the freedom and peace to our land," Yanukovich emphasised. He also said that relations with Russia deteriorated five years ago when the presentauthorities grabbed power. The policy, pursued by Ukraine in relations with Russia, resulted in the present state of affairs. Despite the fact that what was done, was denounced both by the Ukrainian and Russian peoples," claimed the opposition leader. Nevertheless, Yanukovich is sure that the situation will change. "Our peoples will not permit our states to live as we live now. I believe that centuries-long traditions of Ukrainian and Russian peoples will continue," Yanukovich underlined.
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