Victory Parade. Red Square. June 24, 1945 The painting transports the viewer to that morning when Red Square stood still beneath the echo of hooves and the thunder of the victorious march. On June 24, 1945, the Victory Parade took place here — the culmination of the bloodiest war of the century, a moment that embodied the fate of an entire nation. On a gleaming white horse rides Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, the commander who led his troops from the Volga to the Elbe. Beside him, on a black stallion, is Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky — comrade-in-arms, commander, and symbol of indomitable spirit. They move past the banners of the legendary fronts: the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Ukrainian, the First Belorussian, the Black Sea Fleet. These are not mere military names — they are the geography of liberated lands, the map of sacrifice and victory. The red background unifies the composition into a single rhythm. Before the viewer unfolds the triumph of nations who fought for a common freedom. Under the Banner of Victory stand shoulder to shoulder Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Caucasians, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other peoples of the Soviet Union — all who defended their shared homeland. Here, too, are evoked Sevastopol, which endured a siege; Kyiv, liberated by the armies of Zhukov and Vatutin; and Crimea, fought for with ferocity and love worthy of legend. The idea for the painting emerged in 2013, when Crimea once again became part of Russia — at a time when, for many, history seemed suddenly to lose its weight, when in other countries monuments to the Great Patriotic War were being dismantled and the names of those who brought liberation were being erased. For the artist, it became a personal challenge, an inner cry against forgetting. Painted in 2016, the work acquired a prophetic meaning. The events of recent years — renewed civic division and attempts to rewrite the past — have turned it into a warning. Today, more than ever, by looking into the faces of the marshals, into the gleam of the banners, into the crimson backdrop stretched across the façade of GUM, one can see: history returns when it is forgotten.