Veteran Ponomarenko told about meetings with Stalin and Molotov during the war

On May 9, Georgy Ponomarenko, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), told Izvestia how he communicated with the head of the country, Joseph Stalin, and with Vyacheslav Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

"The parade is very good, fun, and well organized. I liked. <...> Yes, Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad. — Ed.) liberated Berlin, liberated Berlin," Ponomarenko said.

The veteran said that on May 5, 1945, he met with American soldiers at the front, noting that on that day the Soviet and American fronts were "closer to each other." Ponomarenko also told how he once helped Marshal of the Soviet Union and Poland Konstantin Rokossovsky establish communication.

He shared that he had spoken twice with Stalin and once with Molotov. The veteran added that he had met Stalin at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, while stressing that Stalin recognized him when they met for the second time.

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Valentina Koposova, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, told Izvestia on May 9 about her work as a signalman during the war. Koposova reached Berlin itself. At the front, she served as a signalman and worked as a telegraph operator on the S-35 apparatus — she transmitted operational reports, intelligence, ciphers and orders. The working day lasted for 12 hours, after which she returned to the unit, the veteran said.