Poland marks 81st anniversary of 1939 Soviet invasion

Poland on Thursday commemorated the 81st anniversary of the country's invasion by the Soviet Union, which occurred on September 17, 1939, shortly after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany. During the day, several observances by top officials are planned. President Andrzej Duda took part in commemorations in Wytyczno, eastern Poland, during which he refuted Russian propaganda according to which the attack on September 17, 1939, was protection for the inhabitants of Belarus and Ukraine. "Eighty-one years ago, free and independent Poland was destroyed, 81 years ago, the German and Soviet invaders destroyed the existence of the Polish state, dreamed of and won by the generation of January Uprising insurgents, and later their children, grandchildren, who managed to regain this independent Poland with their own blood," Duda said.