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By World War II, even as scientists were manufacturing gallons of phages to combat cholera, dysentery, and gangrene in Stalingrad and Leningrad, much the West had given up on phages.

The immense suffering and sacrifice in cities like Stalingrad, Kursk and Putin’s native Leningrad — now St. Petersburg — still serve as a powerful symbol of the country’s ability to prevail against seemingly overwhelming challenges.

The Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people in the war, pushing German forces from Stalingrad, deep inside Russia, all the way to Berlin.

In the second, Putin is speaking at a February 2023 event marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II Soviet victory over Nazi German forces in the battle of Stalingrad.

That was after the regional authorities in the city of Volgograd, which was once named Stalingrad, opposed to having it there.