{"id":1022885,"date":"2026-02-13T13:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/?p=1022885"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:28:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:28:51","slug":"on-the-afghanistan-hurts-my-soul-courage-lesson-held-by-the-gomel-region-state-archives-as-part-of-the-national-archives-for-school-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/news\/1022885","title":{"rendered":"On the \u00abAfghanistan Hurts My Soul\u00bb Courage Lesson Held by the Gomel Region State Archives as Part of the National \u00abArchives for School\u00bb Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 12, 2026, the Gomel Region State Archives<\/strong> held a courage lesson, \u00abAfghanistan Hurts My Soul\u00bb<\/strong>, for 11th-grade students at Gomel Secondary School No.75<\/strong>. Lyubov Tkach, Deputy Chair of the Novobelitsky District Organization of the Belaya Rus Regional Public Organization<\/strong>, moderated the event.<\/p>\n

Guests of the event included internationalist veterans and Andrei Gurzhiy, First Deputy Head of the Main Justice Department of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Opening the event, Archives Director Yuri Shestopalov<\/strong> told the students about the mission of Soviet troops in the Republic of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u00abIn December 1979, a limited contingent of Soviet troops was introduced into the Republic of Afghanistan at the request of the government of the republic\u00bb. Soviet soldiers not only protected the local population of Afghanistan from terrorist groups but also built 25 social facilities that are still used by Afghans. The Afghan War lasted over nine years. During this time, more than 15,000 Soviet servicemen died. Of these, over 700 were Belarusians. Four internationalist soldiers from Belarus became Heroes of the Soviet Union: Nikolai Chepik, Andrei Melnikov, Vasily Pimenov, and Vasily Shcherbakov. The significance of February 15, 1989, cannot be overstated. The withdrawal of Soviet troops on February 15, 1989, symbolized the end of this tragic chapter in history\u00bb,<\/em> – said Yuri Shestopalov.<\/p>\n

The touching and moving recollections of internationalist soldiers Sergei Gorbachev and Vladimir Chernyavsky<\/strong> about their military comradeship and the troubling events of their service in the world’s hot spots touched the hearts of those present.<\/p>\n

Sergei Gorbachev served in the Soviet peacekeeping forces in the Republic of Yugoslavia as an extended-term soldier. Vladimir Chernyavsky, meanwhile, was drafted into the Republic of Afghanistan at the age of 19 after completing training in Ashgabat, the southernmost point of the USSR.<\/p>\n

\u00abWe were young guys and rarely considered the possibility of not returning from yet another mission. It was scary, but we had to follow orders. And we did, and sometimes we were surprised we survived\u00bb<\/em>,- Vladimir said.<\/p>\n

Participants honored the memory of the fallen internationalist soldiers by lighting memorial candles.<\/p>\n

Andrei Gurzhiy, First Deputy Head of the Main Justice Department of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee<\/strong>, concluded the event:<\/p>\n

\u00abIn conclusion of this lesson in courage, I would like to point out that Western media currently downplay the Soviet Union’s historic mission in Afghanistan. I address them with words of deep respect to Sergei Gorbachev and Vladimir Chernyavsky\u00bb. You honorably fulfilled your international military duty. You demonstrated the courage and fortitude of the Soviet soldier to the international community and honorably upheld the honor of the Soviet soldier. No other army was capable of defending and assisting countries in need as the Soviet Union did. Your heroic deed is inscribed in the glorious history of the USSR Armed Forces. Thank you, dear veteran internationalists! We wish you good health and peaceful skies!\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the event, the students presented the internationalist soldiers with flowers and commemorative gifts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Speech by Archive Director Yu.Shestopalov<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. S.Gorbachev speaks about the peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Yugoslavia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Speech by V.Chernyavsky about his service in the Republic of Afghanistan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. A.Gurzhiy summarizes the lesson in courage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Candles of Remembrance in memory of those who did not return from \u00abhot spots\u00bb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Students and guests of the event \u00abAfghanistan Hurts in My Soul\u00bb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 12, 2026, the Gomel Region State Archives held a courage lesson, \u00abAfghanistan Hurts My Soul\u00bb, for 11th-grade students at Gomel Secondary School No.75. Lyubov Tkach, Deputy Chair of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1022885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022887,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022885\/revisions\/1022887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}