At the Victory Day speech in Moscow, Vladimir Putin defended the invasion of Ukraine. However, he did not talk about escalating the war as was speculated by geopolitical analysts
All eyes were on Russia, as it marked its 77th Victory Day to celebrate the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War 2. It was a show of military strength, but the well-choreographed parade provided a stark contrast to the on-ground reality. Russia has faced massive losses (which it refuses to acknowledge) and is struggling to defeat Ukraine, a much-smaller enemy.
There was a lot of speculation over what Russian president Vladimir Putin would say during the Victory Day speech. Would he throw hints on the future of the Ukraine invasion? Or would he go all out and declare an outright war?
Putin did none of that. We take a look at his speech and what it means for Russia, Ukraine, and the world.
The Russian president attended the military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. Similar parades were held across the country – in larger cities, soldiers marched on the streets while in smaller towns school and university-going students joined processions wearing military uniforms.
The Russian authorities were encouraging people to commemorate Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine even as they marked Victory Day. In several places, portraits of soldiers who’ve died recently are on display.
In Putin’s words
Putin used the patriotic holiday to justify the war in Ukraine but neither did he signal where the conflict was headed nor did the declare victory.
The Russian leader oversaw the Red Square parade, with troops marching in formation, military hardware on display, and a brass band blaring to mark the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. But his much-anticipated speech offered no new insights into how he intended to salvage the grinding war — and instead stuck to allegations that Ukraine posed a threat to Russia, even though Moscow’s nuclear-armed forces are far superior in numbers and firepower, reports The Associated Press.
“We saw military infrastructure being ramped up, hundreds of military advisers working and regular deliveries of modern weapons from NATO. [The level of] danger was increasing every day. Russia preventively rebuffed the aggressor. It was necessary, timely and … right. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country,” Putin said, as he continued to defend the invasion.
Referring to the eastern region which is now the focus of the Russian invasion, he said, “Today you are fighting for our people in Donbas, for the security of Russia, our homeland.”
While Russia displayed its military strenght at the Victory Day parade, it countinued to face massive losses in Ukraine. AP
“I am now addressing our armed forces and the Donbas volunteers. You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War II – so there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers, and Nazis,” Putin said.
His unfounded allegations against NATO and Ukraine continued, as he describe 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,” he said.
No change in Russia’s war strategy
There was no change in military strategy, as geo-political analysts had speculated. Instead, Putin announced that he was signing a decree for the families of those dead and wounded in Ukraine to receive special support, reports BBC.
There was a minute’s silence and the strongman ended his 11-minute address “Glory to our armed forces – for Russia, for victory, hoorah”.
There was “nothing significant in Putin’s speech today, but he will need to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks,” wrote Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, on Twitter.
While Putin admitted that Russia had suffered losses in the war in Ukraine, he provided no details. According to the last official figures provided by the country’s defence ministry, 1,351 soldiers were killed but that was six weeks ago.
‘Putin completely out of ideas’
Curiously, Putin didn’t employ his familiar phrase “special military operation” to describe Russia’s offensive. Neither did he call it a war. But he tried to draw parallels between current hostilities and World War II, an attempt, perhaps, to mobilise patriotic sentiment over Hitler’s defeat to boost support among the Russian public for the invasion of Ukraine, according to BBC.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s speech during the Victory Day military parade did not provide any insights on what the country would do next in Ukraine. AP
Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, said that the absence of any big announcements in Putin’s speech was far more important than the rhetoric he used. The Russian leader is “completely out of ideas”. “Either doesn’t now understand the reality of the situation in Ukraine, or wilfully ignoring it,” he tweeted.
“Without concrete steps to build a new force, Russia can’t fight a long war, and the clock starts ticking on the failure of their army in Ukraine,” he added.
Zelenskyy’s powerful speech
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a powerful saying that Ukraine would not allow Russia to appropriate victory in World War II.
“Today we celebrate Victory Day over Nazism. We are proud of our ancestors who together with other nations in the anti-Hitler coalition defeated Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to annex this victory. We will not allow it to be appropriated,” the Ukrainian leader said.
He listed several Ukrainian towns and cities currently under the control of invading Russian forces, saying that Ukrainians during World War II had ousted Nazi Germany’s forces from these regions. “The names of these cities inspire us today. They give us faith that we will drive the occupiers from our land,” Zelensky said in the video address, listing Mariupol, Kherson, and the Crimean peninsula by name, reports AFP.
“We won then. We will win now,” the Ukrainian leader added.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia’s leader to end the war in Ukraine immediately.
What are Putin’s plans next? The speech did not provide any clues. But one thing was certain, Russia is going to continue the war.
With inputs from agencies
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