Ukraine: Zakharchenko leads commemoration at the Saur-Mogila memorial

Over 5,000 people marked Victory Day at the Saur-Mogila memorial to the east of Donetsk, Friday. Despite not having recovered from a wound, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko arrived at the site to congratulate veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Addressing veterans, Alexander Zakharchenko stressed that "no tanks or Grad shells managed to break down the will of Saur-Mogila defenders." Zakharchenko laid flowers at the eternal flame and paid tribute with a minute's silence, in honour of the those killed in the war with the Nazi Germany. Being a strategic height in the Donetsk region, Saur-Mogila was the focal point of intense fighting during the Great Patriotic War. Only in August 1943 were Soviet troops able to retake control of the area from German-Nazi forces. In 1963, a memorial complex was unveiled on the top of the hill to honour the fallen soldiers. In August 2014, fierce battles for the control of the hill raged between DPR and LNR forces with Kiev troops. The memorial was severely damaged.