'Descendants Of Victors': Russia Evokes Stalingrad For Ukraine Boost

Volgograd, Russia, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Jan, 2023 ) :Eighty years after the devastating battle for Stalingrad in southern Russia, one of the bloodiest chapters of World War II, volunteers like Andrei Oreshkin are still retrieving remains of killed Soviet soldiers.

More than one million members of the Red Army died fighting for the city, a sacrifice that has seen it evolve into a symbol of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and a mecca of modern Russian patriotism.

But the anniversary on February 2 to commemorate that crucial battle has taken on added meaning this year as Russian troops fight in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has gone to great lengths to present the nearly year-long conflict there as yet another fight against Nazism, like the one two generations ago in the southern city now called Volgograd.

And many, including Oreshkin, are receptive to this narrative.

"Of course, we're fighting fascism," he told AFP at Rossoshka, a burial ground near Volgograd for Soviet as well as German and Romanian soldiers killed.

Moreover, he agrees with Moscow's view that the conflict in Ukraine is rooted in the West's miscalculation of Russia's resolve and capabilities, as in World War II.

"At the time, Nazi Germany and its allies underestimated... the Soviet Union, its power and the patriotism of its people," Oreshkin said.

"The West is hoping that Russia is weak."