In a strong Victory Day address on Monday, Vladimir Putin rallied Russians to fight, but remained mute on preparations for any escalation in Ukraine, despite Western worries that he would use the ceremony in Red Square to command a mass mobilization.
The annual Victory Day event in Moscow on Monday, with the regular display of ballistic missiles and tanks, was certainly the most keenly observed of its sort since the Nazi surrender in 1945, which it commemorates.
For weeks, Western capitals have publicly speculated that Putin was rushing his forces to achieve something resembling triumph in time for the symbolic anniversary – and that, with scant successes so far, he may instead declare a nationwide call-up for war.
Putin did neither in his address, but instead reiterated his claims that Russian military in Ukraine were once again battling Nazis.
“You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that the lessons of WWII are not forgotten.” So that executioners, castigators, and Nazis have no place in the world,” he continued.
In his own statement commemorating the day, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged Ukrainians that the invasion would be defeated.
“On this Day of Triumph Against Nazism, we struggle for a new victory.” “The path to victory is arduous, but we have no doubt that we will triumph,” he said, referring to Putin, and adding, “The one who is recreating the awful atrocities of Hitler’s government now, following Nazi philosophy, imitating everything they did – he is doomed.”