Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russians were united in a “sacred” fight against the West for Ukraine that would end in victory, and accused the United States and its allies of forgetting the Soviet triumph over the Nazis in World War II.
Putin has repeatedly compared the war in Ukraine – which he presents as a defensive move against a West that wants to divide Russia – to the challenge faced by Moscow when Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
“Battles that decide the fate of our motherland have always become patriotic, national and sacred,” the 70-year-old president told veterans and soldiers gathered in Red Square for the annual Victory Day parade.
“A real war has once again been unleashed against our homeland,” he said.
Putin hailed Russian forces in Ukraine as heroes who were fighting for the country’s future against a West which he said had forgotten the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.
“The whole country has come together to support our heroes. Everyone is ready to help, praying for you,” he said of those taking part in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.”
Putin cheered “Russia, our valiant armed forces, for victory!”
The cheers echoed across Red Square, with a flurry of gunfire and the Russian national anthem, albeit with a much reduced display of military equipment and no air force. Only one tank participated.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II, including many millions in the Ukraine, but eventually pushed back Nazi forces to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red banner of Soviet victory was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.
Kiev and its allies accuse Putin of waging a war of unprovoked aggression in Ukraine to seize territory. They deny Putin’s claim that expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Russia’s borders would pose a threat to its security or justify an invasion of Moscow.
Some 354,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, which is now in its 15th month and could drag on beyond 2023, according to a series of purported US intelligence documents posted online.
VICTORY DAY
No Western leaders attended Tuesday’s parade, which was significantly reduced in size and came less than a week after Russia said Ukraine had attacked the Kremlin with two drones in an attempt to kill Putin. Kiev has denied any involvement.
Putin said “Western globalist elites” were sowing Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, while the Ukrainian people had become “hostages of a coup” and Western ambitions.
Putin said the memory of World War II is sacred and paid tribute to those who fought against the Nazis, including the US and British armies, as well as China’s fight against the Japanese.
Along with the defeat of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812, the victory over Nazi Germany is Russia’s most revered military triumph, though both catastrophic invasions from the west have left Russia deeply sensitive to its western borders.
“We want to see a peaceful, free and stable future,” Putin said, adding that memorials to Soviet soldiers have been destroyed in several countries.
“We reject international terrorism, we will protect the inhabitants of Donbas (in eastern Ukraine) and ensure our security,” said Putin, who was joined in Red Square by the leaders of several former Soviet republics.
He has not addressed the challenges facing Russia as its forces prepare for a major counteroffensive from Ukraine, nor has he charted any path to victory.
Source: Terra
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