The Lugansk region, together with the whole Russia reveres the memory of the victims of Nazism killed during the Great Patriotic War, Lugansk People’s Republic Acting head Leonid Pasechnik said in connection with the 80th anniversary of the Khatyn tragedy.   “Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Khatyn tragedy, but this word still makes people’s hearts ache,” Pasechnik wrote on Telegram. “The Khatyn tragedy anniversary is another reason to think about our historical memory which our “opponents” first ignored and are now trying to bury in oblivion. The memory which is very important to preserve.”   Lugansk region residents saw with their own eyes how historical oblivion turned into a breeding ground for new seeds of Nazism, he added. “We know and remember how the silence on facts and whole fragments of history turned into open glorification of Nazi abettors, the very same monsters who willingly acted as executioners in Khatyn and thousands of other villages as they hang, shot at and burnt civilians. Those whose inhuman cruelty sometimes shocked even the Nazi invaders,” Pasechnik said.   In 2014, Kiev hoisted the banner of nationalism and retrieved from the dustbin of history the Nazism and methods of hate, terror and violence cursed by the humanity, but today, instead of torches and machine guns, Ukrainian nationalists attack neighborhoods, bus terminals and hospitals with missiles, he said. “The Lugansk region, as the whole Russia, reveres the memory and remembers thousands of children killed by Nazis, the elderly people and women tortured in camps, the Young Guard resistance fighters and the great feat of our ancestors. This memory helped us to hold out in 2014 and return home to Russia, and will surely lead us to Victory. The most important thing is to pass it along to our children. This is the only way to complete and irrevocable eradication of the Nazi idea,” Pasechnik said.   ***   Khatyn is a Belarus village which Nazi invaders burnt to ashes together with its residents on March 22, 1943. Auxiliary Police Battalion 118 mostly staffed with ethnic Ukrainians and the Dirlewanger special unit herded villagers into a shed, set it on fire and shot and killed the people who were trying to escape the flames.   One hundred and forty-nine civilians including 75 children were killed in the massacre; just a handful survived . This place currently accommodates a memorial complex. *i*ie