AP PHOTOS: On Victory Day, veterans recall the Soviet Union's sacrifice in World War II

MOSCOW (AP) — When she heard the news of Nazi Germany surrendering 80 years ago, Valentina Efremova couldn’t believe the devastating war was over.

Efremova, now 101, was a teenager when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. She ended up serving as a nurse in field hospitals on the front and remembers the horrors of the fighting all too well.

“When wounded soldiers our age were brought in, I cried. It hurt. I felt so sorry for them. They called me ‘little sister.’ But I pulled myself together. I came from a very disciplined family,” she told The Associated Press from Yakutsk in eastern Siberia.

The Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people in what Russians call the “Great Patriotic War” -– a staggering toll that left a lasting imprint on the nation’s collective memory.

Many who served were teenagers when the war began: nurses, communications specialists laying wire under fire, or new recruits deployed to Europe. Some fought in the Far East after Germany’s surrender, in final battles against Japan.

The portraits featured here are of veterans who served in the Soviet military before the breakup of the USSR who are from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. They were field medics, scouts, radio operators and sappers who dug anti-tank trenches. Some stayed in the military after the war, while others returned home to civilian lives.

Still Russia’s most significant secular holiday, Victory Day on May 9 honors the enormous wartime sacrifices of the Soviet Union. It also serves as a platform for the Kremlin to promote its own brand of patriotism.

President Vladimir Putin, who has led Russia for 25 of the 80 years that have passed since the end of the war, has made Victory Day central to his rule, using it to frame and justify what the Kremlin calls it “a special military operation” in Ukraine.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, looks at World War II veteran Ibragim-Pasha Sadykov, 101, after giving him the Hero of Russia award in the Kremlin's St. Catherine Hall in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

World War II veteran Alexander Medkov poses for a portrait in Volgograd, Russia, on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Medkov was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943 and served as a communications officer. (AP Photo/Alexandr Kulikov)

World War II veteran Maria Rokhlina, 100, poses for a portrait in Moscow, Russia, on Monday, April 28, 2025. Rokhlina volunteered to build defensive lines near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and later became a combat medic. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

World War II veteran Fyodor Fedin poses for a portrait in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Fedin joined the Soviet army in 1944 and was a communications operator in an air defense unit. (AP Photo/Anvar Ilyasov)

World War II veteran Vasily Zinchenko, 101, poses for a portrait in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Zinchenko took part in key battles, including the Battle of Stalingrad. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)

World War II veteran Olga Savenko, 101, poses for a portrait in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Savenko joined the Soviet army on the front lines in 1941, when she was just 18, and served as a communications operator. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)

World War II veteran Kolbai Anafiryaev, 98, poses for a portrait in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. Anafiryaev was drafted into the Soviet army in 1944. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)

World War II veteran Tamara Maksimova, 101, poses for a portrait in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. Maksimova volunteered for the Soviet army when she was still a student in high school and became a nurse. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)

World War II veteran Mikhail Sukhinin, 97, poses for a portrait in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday, April 10, 2025. Sukhinin was drafted into the Soviet army in 1944 and served in a rifle regiment. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin)

World War II veteran Valentina Efremova, 101, poses for a portrait in Yakutsk, Russia, on Friday, April 18, 2025. Efremova served as a nurse in field hospitals on the front lines. (AP Photo/Roman Kutukov)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)