Locals came together here Thursday to mark the 71th anniversary of the victory in the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War in 1945.

War veterans, authorities from the Far East city of Vladivostok as well as Russian naval and ground forces attended the gathering to honor the fallen soldiers, placing flowers for the fallen soldiers and observing a minute of silence.

"The gathering is held next to the chapel of the Holy Martyr Tatiana where some of the Great Patriotic War soldiers were buried," Ivannikov Nicolay, a participant, told Xinhua.

"I came here to honor the memory of fallen soldiers, our fathers, brothers and sisters in such a destructive war," Nicolay said.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union at dawn, triggering the Great Patriotic War which lasted till May 9, 1945.