
France, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and UK issue joint communiqué on 77th anniversary of WWII end
The war began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi German troops, and ended on September 2, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of Japan. On 23 August 1939, the Soviets and Nazis signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that included the Secret Protocol to partition Poland, which defined the borders of Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence in Europe.