"Particularly, Leonid, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, the [former] first secretary of the [Communist] Party [of the Soviet Union] did not return from the front line and is still considered missing in action," retired Maj. Gen. Alexander Kirilin, who is also secretary of the Russian Military Historical Society's academic board, said in an interview.
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), known as the Eastern Front in Germany, was a crucial part of World War II (1939-1945). It began on June 22, 1941, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
The Great Patriotic War was the largest armed confrontation in history. Between 8 million and 13 million people fought in the war over an area that stretched from the Barents Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The Soviet Union is believed to have lost over 25 million people in the war.