Russian President Says Nation In War With West
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin used a Victory Day speech on Tuesday to warn that “a war has been unleashed” against Russia in what seemed an attempt to prepare the nation for a change in the narrative about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. So far, the Kremlin has described its battle against Ukraine only as no more than a “special military operation” aimed at defending Russian interests but limited in scope.
However, with as many as 200,000 Russian troops reportedly killed or wounded since Russia’s invasion began in February last year, Putin, a self-declared Orthodox Christian, went out of his way to say that the “whole country is praying for them,” referring to those fighting in Ukraine.
And speaking at the 78th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Russian leader claimed that there were historical parallels between World War Two and the current bloodshed on Ukraine’s battlefields. “Today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point; a real war has been unleashed against us again,” he added in a speech marked by anger about the alleged attacks against Russia.
“We are proud of the participants of the special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin stressed. “The future of our people depends on you,” he claimed. Yet, his use of the word “war” in connection with Russia’s “special military operation” clarified that the battle has become far greater than the Kremlin initially anticipated.
Putin accused the West of “destroying traditional values” and propagandizing a “system of robbery and violence.”
And “The goal of our enemies, and there is nothing new here, is to achieve the disintegration and destruction of our country,” Putin said during a parade in Moscow.
More than 500 Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine were present at the parade, Russian state media reported. Six leaders of former Soviet Union states, once led by Moscow but now independent, also attended.
SURPRISE MOVE
In a surprise to Western diplomats, the heads of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia – three post-Soviet nations that Moscow strives to keep in its influence – said they would attend the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square alongside Putin.
“Here is to our victory!” Putin exclaimed before returning to his seat. Yet, the victory seemed far from certain on Ukraine’s frontlines, with the death toll mounting on both sides.
In a sign of growing desperation, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group mercenary force, which is fighting Russia’s battle between and near the ruins of Bakhmut, said he was told his forces would be regarded as “traitors” if they abandoned their positions at Ukraine’s eastern city.
Prigozhin had threatened to withdraw his troops from Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition, then rowed back on it but has again suggested he may do so.
As trench-by-trench warfare continued around Bakhmut, the setbacks suffering Russian military launched some 15 cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday, the second attack in as many days, with air defense systems shooting all of them down, officials claimed, after air raid alerts blared over most of the country.
No immediate casualties were reported though Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said debris fell on a house in the Holosiivskyi district in the southwest of Ukraine’s capital.
UKRAINE’S COUNTEROFFENSIVE
It came as Kyiy planned a “very important” counteroffensive against Russian forces that must “demonstrate success,” the country’s prime minister has said.
Denys Shmyhal cautioned that the operation would be launched when the time was right.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged more Western military support, including F-16 fighter jets, to improve his nation’s battle against the Russian military.
The United States has already announced a “new security assistance package” to help bolster Ukraine’s air defenses and artillery ammunition needs.
This package, confirmed by the Department of Defense on Tuesday, totals up to $1.2 billion and is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).
Zelensky has said he also discussed discussed “defense matters and sanctions against Russia” as well as Ukraine’s European Union integration with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive European Commission in Kyiv, added that he hopes for “the EU to approve more sanctions on Russia soon.”