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People gathered in the main square of Ufa, the main city of Bashkortostan, a region spread between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, dancing and singing folk songs.

Moscow is also seeking the reopening of the ammonia pipeline from Togliatti on the Volga River in western Russia to the Black Sea port of Odesa in Ukraine.

In Kazan, a regional capital on the Volga River, people brought flowers, toys and pictures of Ukrainian cities destroyed by the Russian army to a monument commemorating victims of political repression.

Once the Germans captured the Volga River and destroyed the Soviet Union’s defenses, they could head north to get at Moscow.

A photograph showing the Volga River is reproduced in the background on wooden panels, which are later turned over to create a simple, two-tiered structure for Katerina and Boris’s nighttime escapades in the bushes.