A debate between Putin and Zelensky over “victory”

Russia witnessed yesterday wide celebrations of the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazism, dominated by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent internal and external messages in a speech on the occasion, in which he said that the Russian army is currently fighting in Ukraine “for the sake of the Donbass people and for the security of their motherland.” Pointing out that Russia “had to repel an inevitable aggression against it.” Praising the sacrifices of the ancestors who defeated Nazism, Putin vowed victory in the current battle, saying that “the goals we set for the military operation will be achieved.”

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his country would not allow Russia to “preserve the victory over Nazism” in 1945, and said from Kyiv, in what appeared to be an argument between him and Putin: “We are proud of our ancestors who defeated Nazism with other peoples in the framework of the alliance against Hitler.” We won then, and we will win now.”

Yesterday, the Red Square in Moscow witnessed a parade in which about 11,000 soldiers and hundreds of pieces and models of weapons participated, but the Kremlin suddenly announced the cancellation of the air show in which Russia was supposed to present for the first time a modern Ilyushin 80 aircraft, described as a “plane”. Doomsday” is dedicated to transporting senior leaders to safe hiding places, in the event of a nuclear war. The Kremlin attributed this to “bad weather”.

On the other hand, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed, yesterday (Monday), the need to end the ongoing war in Ukraine; But “without humiliating Russia,” he also called for the establishment of a “European political organization” to annex Ukraine in particular, in parallel with the mechanism of joining the European Union, which may take “decades.”