‘WEST WAS PREPARING TO INVADE OUR LAND,’ PUTIN SAYS IN VICTORY DAY SPEECH

Mon 09 May 2022:

The military parade commemorating the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II began on the Red Square in Moscow, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Monday.

As many as 11,000 military will march across the square, and 131 units of military equipment will be observed during the parade.

The parade also includes an aviation part, but it was decided to cancel it this year due to weather conditions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik.

This is not the first time that the aviation part of the Victory Parade has been canceled due to weather conditions.

President Vladimir Putin started a major speech to the Victory Day parade by saying soldiers were fighting for Russian security once again.

Military parades also took place in Vladivostok, and Novosibirsk.

What did Putin say in Victory Day speech?

His address centered on the ongoing war in Ukraine, which began following Russia’s invasion on February 24.

He said the invasion was the “only right decision” and a preemptive move to ward off aggression.

“The West was preparing for invasion of Russia, NATO was creating tensions at the borders. They did not want to listen to Russia, they had other plans,” said Putin.

He claimed Russia was fighting for “the Motherland” in Donbas. “The death of every soldier and officer is painful for us,” he said. “The state will do everything to take care of these families.”

There had been speculation that Putin will announce an escalation of military action. However, there was no mention of a general or partial mobilization of soldiers.

Putin says Russian troops and volunteers deployed in Ukraine’s Donbas are fighting for their Motherland.

“You are fighting for your Motherland, its future,” he says in his Victory Day speech in Moscow.

“The death of every soldier and officer is painful for us,” he says. “The state will do everything to take care of these families.”

He finishes his speech with a rallying cry to the assembled soldiers: “For Russia, For Victory, Hurrah!”

Putin claims the Wests was preparing a punitive operation in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, where Russia’s military operations are now focused.

He says Russia “urged Europe to find a fair compromise, but they didn’t want to hear us”.

“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 our country and to our borders,” Putin adds. “Everything was telling us that there is a need to fight.”

In Russia, “Victory Day,” as it is referred to in the post-Soviet era, was for decades a day of sorrowful remembrance. The Soviet Union lost millions of its citizens during World War II, and May 9 was a day to reflect upon that loss.

Russia has ‘nothing to celebrate’, says Washington

Eleven weeks into a devastating and costly war in Ukraine, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has nothing to offer his people as he prepares to celebrate the country’s national Victory Day parade, says the US ambassador to the United Nations.

“They have nothing to celebrate,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador, said of the Russians, speaking on CNN.

“They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians. They have not succeeded in dividing the world or dividing NATO. And they have only succeeded in isolating themselves internationally and becoming a pariah state around the globe.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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