Russian President Putin makes no new threats against Ukraine On a day meant to showcase his country’s military might, Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his Victory Day speech justifying his decision to invade Ukraine, as a smaller-than-usual parade of Russian forces rolled through Red Square.
Some 10,000 troops and 129 military vehicles were expected to take part in the celebration, which marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. That’s down from the 12,000 soldiers and 191 vehicles that took part last year, when attendance was restricted by the pandemic.
An air display that was supposed to include warplanes roaring over Moscow in a flying Z – the main symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – was cancelled at the last minute. State media reported that the decision was made because of the weather, although the skies were clear over Moscow at the time of the parade.
The real reason for the shrunken display of power was the unexpectedly fierce resistance the Russian army has encountered since Mr. Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24. A war that Russian officials expected would be over within days has now entered its 11th week, with Russian forces having made only limited territorial gains in the south and east of Ukraine.
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At the start of the war, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-run RT news channel, joked that this year’s Victory Day parade would be held in Kyiv. Instead, Ukrainian forces have battered the Russian invaders, killing thousands of soldiers – including 12 top generals – and destroying hundreds of pieces of military equipment.
In a brief speech, Mr. Putin told the assembled soldiers and veterans – some of whom were said to have recently returned from Ukraine – that he ordered the invasion, which the Kremlin refers to as a “special military operation” because Russia had no other choice.
He claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine had been seeking nuclear weapons and that NATO countries had been planning an attack on Russia.
“In Kyiv, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, the NATO bloc began actively taking military control of territories adjacent to ours. As such, an absolutely unacceptable threat to us was systematically created, and moreover directly on our borders,” he said. “Preparations were under way for another punitive operation in Donbas, the invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea.”
Mr. Putin made no statements about how the war was going, or how long he thought it would last. Fears that he would use the occasion to formally declare war on Ukraine, and perhaps order a general mobilization, proved unfounded.
The scale of Russia’s military losses in Ukraine is disputed. While Ukraine claimed at the end of April to have killed 22,800 Russian troops since the start of the war, Russia has thus far reported 1,351 military deaths. The British government estimates that around 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine.
By comparison, the Soviet Union lost an estimated 15,000 troops during 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Analysts have suggested that it would take the Russian military years to recover from the setbacks it has suffered through two-and-a-half months of fighting in Ukraine.
In his speech, Mr. Putin briefly acknowledged Russian military losses in Ukraine, without mentioning any numbers. “The death of each one of our soldiers and officers is our shared grief and an irreparable loss for their friends and relatives. The state, regions, companies and public organizations will do everything to care for and help these families,” he said.
Also missing from Red Square on Monday were the foreign dignitaries who usually attend the Victory Day celebrations. While the Kremlin said it had not invited any foreign leaders to the event, the absence of even Moscow’s closest allies – such as Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko – was striking.