A soldier paints another ‘kill’ star onto the side of a Russian fighter plane as a mechanic inspects the engine in just one image of hundreds released by the Russian International News Agency (RIA Novosti).
As part of a joint effort by RIA Novosti and Wikimedia, the two organisations are releasing hundreds of never-before-published photographs from The Second World War.
The photographs show the full swath of the war on Russia, from Soviet IL-2 combat aircraft, to German Prisoners of War, to Russian citizens running for cover during an air raid.
RIA Novosti is releasing the images under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 3.0) as part of what they call the Eternal Values Project to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the News Agency.
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Red Square Moscow, 10 September 1941. RIA Novosti archive, image #585208 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0
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Anti-aircraft guns guarding the sky of Leningrad, 1 October 1941. RIA Novosti archive, image #5634 / David Trahtenberg / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Soviet IL-2 combat aircraft attack an enemy formation. The Kursk Bulge (Operation Citadel), The Voronezh Front, Russia. RIA Novosti archive, image #225 / F. Levshin / CC-BY-SA 3.0

The anti-aircraft gun crew of Sergeant Fyodor Konoplyov shooting at enemy planes in Leningrad during World War II. Russia, Saint-Petersburg. RIA Novosti archive, image #594303 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0
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First Aid Post at Leningrad's Narva Gates. RIA Novosti archive, image #594300 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0