AFP,
Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that his soldiers in Ukraine were fighting an “aggressive force” backed by all of Nato and described his war goals as “just”, as he addressed a scaled back Victory Day parade on Red Square.
Putin has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II a central narrative of his 25-year rule. Russian authorities typically mark the parade with pomp and grandeur.
But a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year’s celebrations.
The parade was vastly smaller compared to previous years, with no military hardware on display for the first time in nearly two decades and only a handful of foreign dignitaries in attendance -- most of them leaders of Russia’s close allies.
Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to observe a three-day ceasefire over the event, announced by US President Donald Trump. Moscow had threatened a “massive” strike on central Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the proceedings.
In an address to the parade, attended by Russian military units as well as soldiers from North Korea, Putin invoked the Soviet victory to rally support for his army in Ukraine.
“The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today,” Putin said.
“They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire Nato bloc. And despite this, our heroes move forward,” he said.
“I firmly believe that our cause is just,” he added later.
The speech drew a cool reception from some in Moscow, with internet outages and fatigue over the four-year Ukraine war casting a shadow over the events.
When asked how she felt on Victory Day, which marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, 36-year-old economist Elena replied: “Nothing.”
“I need the internet, and I don’t have it,” she told AFP from central Moscow, saying she would not watch the parade.
After two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, Trump announced on Friday a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect from May 9.