On May 5, 2023, the leadership of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, headed by Academician Vladimir Gusakov, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, laid flowers at the Obelisk to the fallen prisoners of war and civilians on the 9th kilometer of the Moscow highway in Uruchcha.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Chairmen of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Academic Secretaries of the Departments of Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, representatives of public organizations, of the Council of Young Scientists of the NAS of Belarus.

The monument was erected in memory of 30 thousand Soviet prisoners of war, partisans and civilians who were shot and tortured to death by the Nazi invaders in 1941–1943. The names of several dozen soldiers who died in the Uruchcha area are stamped on the memorial plate. Scientists of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus were directly involved in the work to establish information about mass graves and fallen heroes.

"The Academy of Sciences is doing a great job of establishing the real truth about the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, today there is a falsification of the results of the war, when other winners are named, the number of victims is kept silent, the executioners are presented as heroes, etc. Together with the Prosecutor General's Office, we are conducting joint research to clarify the number of villages burned, the genocide of the Belarusian people, how many people were destroyed. More and more burials are being discovered, new facts of crimes of fascism against humanity. A huge amount of material has been accumulated. We publish books and albums for a wide range of readers," Vladimir Gusakov noted.

Alexander Kovalenya, Academic Secretary of the Department of Humanities and Arts of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, spoke about the policy of genocide of the Belarusian people, which was carried out by the German authorities on the territory of our country.

Employees of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus visit places of military glory and lay flowers at memorial complexes, obelisks, monuments, mass graves and graves of unknown soldiers on these May days.
In the Year of Peace and Creation, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus will continue to actively work on studying the issues of the Great Patriotic War, perpetuating the memory of specific war heroes: front-line soldiers, partisans, members of the underground, home front workers.