By Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (WARNEWS) — Russia commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II this Friday with a military parade where Chinese President Xi Jinping is present. This event comes as Moscow anticipates potential disruption from Ukraine following three years of intense conflict.
President Vladimir Putin, who has been serving longer than any leader in the Kremlin since Joseph Stalin, is set to address an event starting at 0700 GMT. During this gathering, numerous Russian troops typically walk through followed by displays of military equipment like intercontinental ballistic missiles and tanks passing near Lenin’s Tomb on Red Square.
However, the conflict in Ukraine, which stands as Europe’s most devastating since World War II, casts a shadow over this celebration. For multiple days this week, Ukraine launched drone attacks against Moscow, and both Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for violating a 72-hour cease-fire announced by Putin.
According to the Kremlin, the presence of Russian supporters like Xi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, along with numerous leaders from the former Soviet republics, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, demonstrates that Russia remains connected internationally despite efforts by some of Moscow’s erstwhile World War II partners in the West to keep their distance. European representation at this event includes the presidents of Serbia and Slovakia.
“The victory over fascism, achieved at the cost of enormous sacrifices, has an everlasting significance,” Putin told Xi in the Kremlin. “The countless sacrifices made by both our peoples should never be forgotten.”
The Soviet Union suffered approximately 27 million casualties during World War II, with numerous victims from Ukraine as well. However, they managed to drive the Nazi forces all the way back to Berlin. There, Adolf Hitler took his own life, and in 1945, the victorious Red Army hoisted the Soviet Victory Banner above the Reichstag.
For Russians – and for many of the peoples of the former Soviet Union – May 9 is the most sacred date in the calendar, and Putin, angry at what he says are attempts by the West to belittle the Soviet victory, has sought to use memories of WW2 to unite Russian society.
According to historians from the Chinese Communist Party, the death toll in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, spanning from 1937 to 1945, was approximately 35 million individuals. The Japanese invasion led to the displacement of up to 100 million Chinese citizens and resulted in considerable economic struggles. Additionally, this period included the appalling events of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, where it’s believed that between 100,000 to 300,000 lives were lost.
Although Moscow and Kyiv refrain from releasing precise figures regarding casualties in the conflict in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump, expressing his desire for peace, claims that hundreds of thousands of troops on both fronts have suffered deaths or injuries.
MOSCOW PARADE
Putin has aimed to shield Moscow from the intense artillery and drone conflict raging 600 kilometers (370 miles) away in Ukraine. However, Ukrainian drone strikes have recently caused disruptions to air traffic heading into Russia’s capital city.
The Kremlin stated that the military is taking all necessary measures to guarantee security for the parade happening near the Kremlin, which Russia claimed was attacked by Ukrainian drones in 2023.
Some drone assault alerts were issued during the night across certain Western parts of Russia; however, there have been no accounts of strikes affecting Moscow and its environs, home to a populace of over 21 million people.
Safety measures are highly stringent in Moscow. Putin suggested a 72-hour truce effective from May 8 through May 10; however, Ukraine stated that Russia violated this ceasefire, an assertion Moscow refuted as baseless.
The Kremlin announced that military contingents from 13 nations, such as China, will join the procession alongside Russian forces. However, it remained uncertain how North Korea, which has assisted Russia in its conflict in Ukraine, would participate in the event.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to allied nations to assist his country in countering Russian aggression, as Moscow currently holds control over roughly one-fifth of Ukraine.
“Evil cannot be placated; it has to be confronted,” Zelenskiy stated, as reported by the Kyiv Post. He condemned Moscow’s Victory Day celebration. “This event is nothing more than a display of arrogance. Words like ‘cynical’ fall short when describing this spectacle. Instead, one could call it a procession of bitterness and deceit.”
(Reported by Guy Faulconbridge; Edited by William Maclean and Tomasz Janowski)
