Eight MiG-29s will form the letter Z, the symbol adopted by supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.įor the 2022 ceremony in Moscow’s Red Square the Kremlin is desperate to have a victory from the Ukraine war to announce. This year, the Kremlin promises a parade on May 9 with 11,000 servicemen and women plus 62 airplanes and 15 helicopters. He said: “Today we do not know what to expect from the enemy, what terrible thing they might do, so please go out onto the street as little as possible, stay in the shelters.Even in the darkest days of the pandemic in 2020 Russia didn’t cancel Victory Day, its anniversary of the end of the second world war – it was just postponed. The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, urged people to heed air raid sirens and stay in bomb shelters on Monday amid concerns that Russian attacks would intensify. “We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers,” he told an online news conference. Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov battalion, which is on the site, pleaded with the international community to help evacuate wounded soldiers there. Ukrainian forces are still holding out in the Azovstal steel plant in the city. In Ukraine, Russian forces continued their assault in the east of the country, and their effort to capture the last pockets of resistance in the crucial southern port city of Mariupol. “Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine. We have respect for all people and cultures.”Ĭolumns of soldiers marched through Red Square in the traditional Victory Day parade, accompanied by displays of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.Īs Mr Putin delivered his Victory Day speech, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky released his own video message on Monday, saying his country was fighting for “our children’s freedom”. “The US spoke after the fall of the Soviet Union about exceptionalism, but we are a different country with different character. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu salutes as he is driven along Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow (Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) Tanks parade through Red Square (Photo: Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty) Soldiers at the Victory Day parade in Moscow (Photo: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty) Russian navy sailors march during the Moscow event (Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters) The decision for this special military operation was forced and was the only correct decision. “Ukraine is receiving the most modern weaponry from Nato. We are talking about neo-Nazis in Ukraine that the US and its partners are working with,” he claimed. “Nato is actively pursuing our territory. He alleged the war in Ukraine had been necessary because the West was “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea”, and that Russia’s “special military operation” was necessary. Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a military parade on Victory Day in Red Square, Moscow (Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters) Mr Putin watches the military parade in Red Square (Photo: Mikhail Metzel/Reuters) People carry portraits of relatives who fought in the Second World War as they celebrate Victory Day in Vladivostok (Photo: Pavel Korolyov/AFP via Getty)ĭirectly addressing soldiers fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, he claimed Russian forces were “defending the motherland”, adding: “Today you are fighting for our people in Donbas, for the security of Russia, our homeland.” The day’s promised air display was cancelled, with a Kremlin spokesman citing adverse weather, although the day appeared to be fine. His remarks during the 11-minute speech offered no assessment of progress in the war and gave no indication of how long it might continue.
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