Russia marked the 77th anniversary of its victory in the Second World War with a military parade and an 11-minute speech from President Vladimir Putin, all while the country continues its invasion of Ukraine.
Putin’s speech was expected to give an update on the Ukraine war, which Russia calls a “special military operation,” but he provided no new roadmap to victory. Instead, his speech aimed to inspire soldiers fighting in the eastern Donbas region, where the war has intensified.
Putin directly addressed the soldiers there, comparing their fight to the one against Germany’s Nazis in the 1940s.
“You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War Two. So that there is no place in the world for executioners, castigators and Nazis,” he said.
Russia has justified its invasion of Ukraine as a mission to “de-Nazify” the country and has pledged to “liberate” Donbas from Kyiv’s control, comparing the fight to the one against Adolf Hitler when Germany invaded Russia in 1941.
Putin said Monday the campaign was necessary to avert the “threat” of NATO expansion that was “absolutely unacceptable.” Russia has previously demanded that Ukraine be excluded from the military alliance, but the invasion has since led to Ukraine more explicitly requesting its inclusion.
“The danger was rising by the day,” Putin said. “Russia has given a preemptive response to an aggression.”
Ukraine and the West say Russia’s invasion was unprovoked.
Putin did not give a timeframe of how much longer the war may last, but in remarks in his Kremlin office after the parade, he told a father of a Russian battalion commander killed that “all plans are being fulfilled. A result will be achieved — on that account, there is no doubt.”
Russia has not updated its casualty figures from the Ukraine invasion since March 25, when it said 1,351 of its troops had been killed. Ukraine and the West, though, have placed that figure much higher — over 15,000. Reports say Russia’s invasion has faced logistical challenges and has not gone as smoothly as planned.
During his parade speech, Putin also condemned external threats that he said aim to weaken and divide Russia. The West has placed numerous sanctions on Russian individuals and entities and has provided military support to Ukraine. Canada has already sanctioned over 1,000 individuals since the invasion began Feb. 24.
Russia’s Victory Day takes place a day after many Western countries’ versions and honours the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the Second World War. Putin gave a minute of silence to honour the dead and a promise that the state would look after the children and family of those who died in Ukraine.
The parade Monday featured Russian guards and military equipment, including high-stepping guards marching across Moscow’s Red Square carrying the red Soviet hammer-and-sickle victory banner, the defence minister saluting units in a black limousine, and a parade of Russia’s latest Armata and T-90M Proryv tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia is staging a “bloody re-enactment of Nazism” in Ukraine. There have been accounts of Russia knowingly attacking civilians and infrastructure, which Russia denies.
The parade was followed by tens of thousands of citizens packing Moscow’s main avenue, Tverskaya Street, to walk over to the Red Square. They held placards of pictures of relatives who had died in the Second World War, including Putin, who carried a photograph of his father in naval uniform. The Kremlin said he fought on the front line in the war.
— with files from The Associated Press and Reuters
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