Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the Ukrainian conflict in his annual Victory Day speech and called on Ukrainian troops to seek victory.
“When fate was decided, it was always sacred to protect Russia,” he told the Moscow crowd. “Today you are fighting for our people in Donbus for the security of our hometown of Russia.”
Russian leaders announce that Russia has won in Ukraine because Moscow’s troops have remained stagnant since the start of the invasion on February 24, or Victory Day to announce a full-scale war against the country. There was speculation to use. But Putin did not use his speech to announce the escalation of the conflict, instead saying that Western forces stimulated Russia.
NATO argued that such a move would create a threat to Moscow’s sovereignty and began aggressively developing military infrastructure in parts of Ukraine adjacent to Russia.
“We saw how the military infrastructure was deployed, hundreds of foreign advisers started working there, and the latest weapons were regularly delivered from NATO countries,” Putin said. rice field.
“The danger was rising every day. Russia offered a preemptive refusal to aggression … this was a compulsory and timely move, the only right decision, under by a powerful and independent country. “It was,” he added, and the West and NATO “translated, our land, including the Crimea.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, Putin’s Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Monday that Kieu’s army would win and not abandon a single parcel of land.
“On the day of victory over Nazism, we are fighting for a new victory. The road to it is difficult, but there is no doubt that we will win,” Zelensky said, according to the report.
Ukraine does not hold a public event on May 9 for fear of bombardment. Curfew is imposed in some places from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning.
Recently, Russia has refocused its troops on eastern Ukraine, near Mariupol. There, Russian troops bombed the Azofustari steelworks.Ukrainian officials Said Monday when Russia intensified missile attacks in other parts of the country.
Azovstal, a vast complex of buildings and underground tunnels, is the last fort for the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, and its capture helps connect the occupied territories of Russia in the south and east of Ukraine and separate Ukraine from the Sea of Azov. increase.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Russian troops are now trying to move forward in eastern Ukraine, where the situation was “difficult”, but returned from the city of Kharkiv, where local officials reported heavy bombardment of Russia. ..
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Jack Phillips is the latest news reporter for The Epoch Times, based in New York.