Every war ends. 77 years ago, World War II ended – the largest armed conflict in the history of mankind. Most of the countries of the world (more than 60) took part in the war, primarily all the great powers that formed opposite war camps: the Axis bloc (Germany, Italy, Japan and their satellites) and the anti-Hitler coalition (Great Britain, the Soviet Union – from July 12 1941, United States, China, etc.). The fighting took place in Europ, Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean. More than 100 million people took part directly in military operations. Human losses amounted to 60 to 70 million people, in particular, as a result of the Holocaust, death from hunger, mass murders, diseases. The main countries participating in the conflict used all their economic, industrial and scientific potential. Nuclear weapons were used for the first time.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Axis countries, which sought world domination, were defeated and defeated. On May 8, 1945, the leadership of the Third Reich signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender. This date is considered the Day of Victory over Nazism in Europe. However, hostilities continued in the Pacific Ocean, and the Soviet-Japanese war continued.

On September 2, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan was signed on board the battleship “Missouri” in Tokyo Bay. The document was signed by, in addition to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, US Army General Douglas MacArthur, other representatives of the Allied Powers, in particular, Admiral Chester Nimitz – from the USA, Admiral Bruce Fraser – from Great Britain, Lieutenant General K. Derevyanko – from the USSR. This was the end of World War II – an event that fundamentally influenced the further structure of the world. In addition to large-scale decolonization, there have been changes in global politics. Great Britain and France ceded their pre-war positions to two superpowers – the USA and the USSR. The world was divided into capitalist and communist camps. The ideologies of fascism and Nazism were banned and condemned. The United Nations was created to prevent future conflicts and promote the development of international cooperation.

More than 70 years later, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which violated all principles of international law, the established system of the world order is collapsing. The UN has shown its weakness to influence the aggressor state, which has already resorted to nuclear blackmail. The people of Ukraine are choosing their right to freedom and existence at the terrible cost of many lives. What the world will be like in the future depends on the fate of our country. So, let's believe in the Armed Forces and bring Victory closer together.

Dilfuza Hlushchenko