In front of cameras, Kiriyenko, Putin's deputy chief of staff, unveiled a statue depicting an elderly Ukrainian woman whom Russian state media have turned into a symbol of Ukrainian support for Russian troops. ![]() A pocket of Ukrainian resistance remains inside the local steel plant, but Putin has formally announced Russian control of Mariupol, unleashing a flood of Russian state media into the city. With few outright victories to point to, some Russians fear Putin may instead seize the occasion to announce national mobilization and formally declare war, against not only Ukraine but perhaps also other countries in the West.Ĭlues to the Kremlin's search for the optics of victory may lie in a visit last week by a senior official, Sergei Kiriyenko, to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The Kremlin insists that what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine is going "according to plan." Two months in, Western security officials say Moscow has struggled to reach its objectives. One big question is whether - or how - Putin might try to galvanize Russians and fuse past Soviet glory and sacrifice with a new call to battle against what he claims is a "neo-Nazi" regime in Ukraine. This year's Victory Day comes amid widespread speculation, in both Russia and the West, that Putin is eager to declare at least a symbolic win in Ukraine. ![]() Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, the May 9 event has grown in scale and political prominence, with a Soviet-style military parade on Moscow's Red Square featuring a presidential address. Openly, preparations were under way for another punitive operation in Donbas, the invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea,” said Putin.MOSCOW - Russians will celebrate Victory Day on Monday, an annual event to mark the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II that has taken on added intrigue and import this year because of Russia's fight in Ukraine. “NATO countries did not want to listen to us, meaning that they in fact had entirely different plans, and we saw this. Putin has repeatedly likened the war – which he casts as a battle against dangerous “Nazi”-inspired nationalists in Ukraine – to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Adolf Hitler invaded in 1941. There was no mention of the bloody battle for Mariupol, where Ukrainian defenders holed up in the ruins of the Azovstal steelworks are still defying Russia’s assault. ![]() He did not mention Ukraine by name, gave no assessment of progress in the war, and offered no indication of how long it might continue. He added the Russian troops were fighting for the country’s security in Ukraine and observed a minute of silence to honour the troops who fell in combat. He said the campaign in Ukraine was a timely and necessary move to ward off potential aggression. In his Victory Day speech, Putin drew parallels between the Red Army’s fighting against Nazi troops and the Russian forces’ action in Ukraine. Tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and transports carrying huge intercontinental ballistic missiles rattled across the paving stones.īut this year’s observance of Russia’s most important patriotic holiday carries exceptional weight. Impeccably straight columns of soldiers marched through Red Square on Monday as they do every year on Victory Day. ![]() Russian President Vladimir Putin attended Moscow’s Victory Day Parade marking the 77th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
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