Victory itself was missing the parade on May 9th. Russia now controls of most of Donbas, but its grip is precarious and Ukraine is determined to liberate its territory
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskJust as the Nazis justified their unprovoked attacks on Poland in 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941 by claiming to be acting in pre-emptive self-defence, so did Mr Putin claim in his speech at the parade that Russia had launched a pre-emptive strike against Ukraine and. “An absolutely unacceptable threat to us was steadily being created right on our borders…[the invasion] was forced, timely and the only correct decision.
Also missing from the parade was Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff. Russia’s top soldier was spotted on May 1st near Izyum, the site of the fiercest fighting in eastern Ukraine, and has not been seen since. Ukrainian intelligence sources believe he was wounded there. But perhaps the most notable absence from the Victory Day parade was the victory itself.
But this does not mean Mr Putin will be stopping soon. As he laid flowers on a series of war memorials and firework displays lit the skies over Russian cities, the skies over cities across Ukraine were lit up by Russian missiles. Although Russia now controls the majority of the eastern Donbas region, its offensive to take the rest of it is proceeding slowly.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, says that Ukraine’s vision of victory has now changed from pushing Russia back to its pre-war positions to liberating all of its territory, including areas seized in 2014. To do so will require a lot more manpower and equipment than Ukraine currently has. Mr Putin’s plan is to dig in, wear out Ukraine militarily and strangle it economically, by blockading its ports.
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