During a speech in Moscow’s Red Square, Vladimir Putin asserted that “war is being waged against Russia.”
Victory Day, the biggest secular holiday in Russia, is being celebrated today with military parades and other festivities in Moscow and other Russian towns. However, this year’s celebrations have been greatly overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian president compared the situation to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during his speech, saying it had brought the world community “to a breaking point.”
‘Today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point. A real war has been unleashed against our homeland. We have repulsed international terrorism, we will protect the inhabitants of Donbas, we will ensure our security,’ he said.
In a 10-minute speech on Red Square, Putin repeated familiar messages he has delivered many times in the nearly 15 months of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Putin claimed Russia wants to see a ‘peaceful future’, and accused Western elites of sowing the seeds of ‘hatred and Russophobia’.
He said ‘Western globalist elites’ were sowing Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, while the Ukrainian people had become ‘hostages to a state coup’ and to the ambitions of the West.
He did not address the challenges facing Russia as its forces prepare for an expected major counter-offensive by Ukraine, or outline any path to victory.
The speech, followed by a huge military parade across Red Square, was taking place following a wave of strikes inside Russia this month – including a purported drone attack on the Kremlin citadel itself less than a week ago.
Putin concluded the address by welcoming the soldiers fighting in Ukraine who were present at the parade. ‘To Russia! To our brave armed forces! To Victory!’ he said.
At least 21 Russian towns and cities have cancelled the traditional parades for the first time in years, which are meant to honour the country’s victory over Germany in World War II.
Regional officials blamed unspecified ‘security concerns’ for the cancellations.
Some speculated, however, that the reason the marches were cancelled was the fact that Russians might bring portraits of relatives who died in Ukraine to those processions, illustrating the scale of Russia’s losses in the drawn-out conflict.
Meanwhile, Kremlin forces launched 25 missiles overnight in a wave of attacks across Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that air defense had successfully destroyed 23 of them.
In a Telegram post, the air force said eight Kalibr cruise missiles were launched from carriers in the Black Sea toward the east and 17 from strategic aircraft.
Joining Putin on stage were a number of leaders from former Soviet nations currently allied with Russia.
Initially, only one of them — Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov — was expected to attend, but at the last minute on Monday officials confirmed that leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were heading to Moscow as well.