Russian President Vladimir Putin used a major patriotic holiday Monday to again justify his war in Ukraine.
The Russian leader oversaw a Victory Day parade on Red Square, with troops marching in formation, military hardware on display, and a brass band blaring to mark the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany. But his much-anticipated speech offered no new insights to how he intended to salvage the grinding war - and instead stuck to allegations that Ukraine posed a threat to Russia, even though Moscow's nuclear-armed forces are far superior in numbers and firepower.
There was"nothing significant in Putin's speech today, but he will need to make a decision regarding mobilization in the coming weeks," wrote Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, on Twitter. Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that"NATO countries were not going to attack Russia. Ukraine did not plan to attack Crimea," which Russia seized in 2014.
The complete capture of Mariupol would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, allow Russia to complete a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, and free troops up for fighting elsewhere in the Donbas, which is now Putin's stated focus following his failure to seize the capital in the early days of the conflict. The fall of the city would provide a much-needed symbolic victory for Russia.
For weeks, hundreds of civilians also took shelter with the fighters at the plant, but the last were evacuated Saturday. In a convoy led by the United Nations and international Red Cross, they arrived Sunday night in Zaporizhzhia, the first major Ukrainian city beyond the frontlines. They spoke of constant shelling, dwindling food, ubiquitous mold - and using hand sanitizer for cooking fuel.
However, Rodion Miroshnik, a pro-Kremlin official in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, said Moscow-backed separatist forces and Russian troops had captured most of Popasna, an embattled city that saw two months of fierce fighting.
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