From the BBC:
“Putin says Russia fighting
for motherland in Ukraine in Victory Day speech”
Russian President Vladimir Putin
said Russian forces in Ukraine were fighting for the future of their
motherland, in his annual address marking victory over Nazi Germany in World
War Two. Despite rumours he would make a major announcement his speech stuck
largely to defending Russia's invasion. He tied the war in Ukraine to victory
in 1945, blaming the West and Nato for rejecting security demands. Almost 10
weeks into the invasion, civilian casualties continue to mount. Some 60
civilians are feared dead in the eastern town of Bilohorivka, after a Russian
attack on a school where people were trying to escape bombardment. Flanked by
military top brass, Russia's leader spoke of Ukrainians as fascists, repeating
his false claim that the democratic government in Kyiv was run by neo-Nazis.
'Obvious threat to us'
Defending the motherland had
always been sacred, he said, referring to the eastern region which is now the
main focus of Russia's assault: "Today you are fighting for our people in
Donbas, for the security of Russia, our homeland." He also made unfounded
allegations against Nato and Ukraine and described the invasion as a
pre-emptive rebuff: "They were preparing a punishing operation in Donbas
to intrude on our historic lands. In Kyiv they were saying they might get
nuclear weapons and Nato started exploring the lands close to us, and that
became an obvious threat to us and our borders."
Ukrainian presidential official
Mykhailo Podoliak later responded, tweeting that there were no rational grounds
for the war: "Nato countries were not going to attack Russia. Ukraine did
not plan to attack Crimea." There had been speculation that Russia's president
may be considering a change of military strategy, either a full declaration of
war, rather than the current so-called special military operation, or a
mobilisation of Russian men to boost the armed forces. Instead he said he was
signing a decree for families of the dead and wounded in Ukraine to receive
special support. There was a minute of silence, including for the fallen in
Ukraine, and he ended his 11-minute address with the words: "Glory to our
armed forces - for Russia, for victory, hurrah", at which the assembled
forces responded with a big cheer.
Few clues in Putin speech,
says the BBC's Russia editor
The parade was more modest than
in recent years. Russian news agencies said 11,000 troops and 131 armoured
vehicles took part in the event, including Russia's widely feted Armata tanks,
which have not been considered combat-ready for the war in Ukraine. There was
no sign of chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, who according to unconfirmed
reports was injured visiting the front line in Donbas recently. Not everything
went according to plan. A flypast by the air force had to be cancelled shortly
before the parade because of "weather conditions", according to the
Kremlin. Ahead of Victory Day, warplanes had rehearsed over Red Square in a
Z-formation, the motif used by the Russian state during its war in Ukraine.
Smaller parades took part in cities across Russia and the weather was also
blamed for similar cancellations of flypasts in Yekaterinburg, Rostov and
Novosibirsk.
There was no mention in Vladimir Putin's speech of Mariupol, the southern Ukrainian port city where a small group of Ukrainian forces continue to hold out in a maze of tunnels under the Azovstal steelworks. But Russia was able to claim limited success on Monday in Kherson, the one Ukrainian city it can claim to have fully occupied. State-run news agency Ria Novosti showed footage of a Victory Day march in memory of those who died in the war. It was led by Volodymyr Saldo, a pro-Russian local official who has been named Kherson governor and is now being investigated for treason by Ukraine. What was then the Soviet Union lost 27 million lives during World War Two, with Ukraine accounting for eight million of them.
In a separate message marking 9
May, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Nazis had been expelled in 1945 and
Ukraine would not allow anyone to "annex this victory". Very soon, he
said, Ukraine would have two victory days to celebrate. Small acts of protest
did take place in Russia. Programme guides on smart TVs were hacked with an
anti-war message saying "on your hands is the blood of thousands of
Ukrainians". The front page of news website Lenta was also sabotaged with
10 detailed stories with headlines including "Russia leaves the corpses of
its soldiers in Ukraine". In Poland, Russian ambassador Sergei Andreev was
doused with red paint as he tried to lay a wreath at a military cemetery.
^ It must be hard for Putin and
the Z Nazis to celebrate the Soviet Victory of Nazi Germany in 1945 when they
are losing their War in Ukraine in 2022. ^
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