Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the 10 -week invasion of being shaken to Ukraine as a battle that was proportional to the war against the German Nazi when he led his annual military appearance on Moscow's red field.
Today, you defend what our father, grandfather and grandfather fought for," Putin said in his speech before the military parade on Monday, flanked by Veterans World War II on the May 9 victory celebration which marked the defeat of Germany in 1945.
In the midst of the Ukraine invasion, Russia has given a final touch for training for the parade of its victory day in Moscow. The annual power performance marked the Soviet Nazi defeat in World War II, called Russia as a great patriotic war. Thousands of soldiers usually lined up across the red square ...
This year's screen includes 11,000 troops and weapons including tanks, air defense systems and nuclear missile launchers. A flyover planned by military jet and helicopter was canceled due to cloudy weather conditions, the Tass News managed by the government reported, quoting a spokesman for Kremlin Dmitry Peskov.
Some Western officials have suggested that Putin might use World War II warnings to move to officially declare war in a conflict called Kremlin as "Special Military Operation." This will allow Russia to order mass mobilization, potentially helping to start a traffic jam campaign. Kremlin has denied such a plan and Putin did not mention them in his speech.
You struggle for the homeland, for the future, so that no one forgets World War II lessons, so there is no place for executioners, persecutors and Nazis," Putin said. He insisted on conflict with Ukraine and NATO countries that supply Ukraine with weapons "cannot be avoided," claiming that it was a response to preparation for attacking Donbas controlled by the Russian separatist and invading Crimea, the Black Sea Peninsula who were annexed by Kremlin in 2014. Ukraine and its allies reject it.
Putin has made the Soviet Union victory in what is known in Russia as a large patriotic war, where 27 million people of the Soviet Union died, a test of tests from his efforts to trigger patriotic feelings. This year, with tens of thousands of soldiers who fought in Ukraine and Russia faced sanctions that had never happened before from the US and its allies, the event had taken a greater meaning. Putin said Russia fought "[email protected] in Ukraine, the statement of Kyiv and its allies was dismissed.
This war was presented as a war for the memory of World War II, the war against 'Nazi' and those who respected Nazi, the war to allow Russia and 'worthy' to remember the 1945 victory in a 'true' way (ie Russia's way)," said Jade McGlynn, a Russian expert at Oxford University.
The Russian leader, who attacked Ukraine after his pro-west leadership moved towards relations closer to the North Atlantic agreement organization, so far failed to make significant progress in the war when the US and Europe increased the supply of weapons to the Kyiv military. Former Soviet countries now get heavy weapons including tanks and artillery.
So far, the only main military victory that has been written by Putin is the fall of the South Port City of Marieupol after weeks of siege and bombing that killed at least 20,000 civilians, according to Ukraine officials. Ukraine fighters continue to fight at the City Giant Azovstal Steel Factory.
Russia is expected to hold a small scale WWII event in Mariupol, where destruction is carried out in the city of 450,000.
This year's parade in Moscow is smaller than the last few years and Kremlin has not invited foreign leaders. In 2005, when Russia marked the 60th anniversary of World War II, more than 50 foreign leaders attended, including US President George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Hu Jintao.