Putin Defends Ukraine Invasion In Victory Day Speech

President Vladimir Putin has justified Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as a necessary move for “defending the motherland,” a claim Britain said mirrored the fascism and tyranny that sparked World War II, as Russian forces pressed ahead with their offensive in the east and south of the country.

Putin, who presided over a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square to mark the Soviet Union’s role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, reiterated his accusation that NATO was creating threats right next to its borders and claimed that the invasion of Ukraine was a necessary preemptive action.

He also addressed soldiers fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which Russia has pledged to “liberate” from Kyiv.

“Defending the motherland when its fate is being decided has always been sacred,” he said.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace immediately called out the “absurdity of Russian generals — resplendent in their manicured parade uniforms and weighed down by their many medals,” saying they were “utterly complicit in Putin’s hijacking of their forebears’ proud history of…repelling fascism.”

“All professional soldiers should be appalled at the behavior of the Russian Army,” as they not only have “engaged in an illegal invasion and war crimes, but their top brass have failed their own rank and file to the extent they should be court-martialed,” he said in a speech at the British National Army Museum.

“Through the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and his inner circle of generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the errors of the last century’s totalitarian regime,” he added.

Although there had been speculation that Putin might officially declare war on Ukraine, his 11-minute speech offered no assessment of progress in the war and gave no indication of how long it might continue.

Russian forces have so far failed to complete the occupation of the strategic Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters continue to resist in the sprawling network of underground tunnels and bunkers of the Azovstal steel mill.

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