Putin claims that the West was “preparing for the invasion of our country”
Russian guards of honor march on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2022.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to justify his unprecedented invasion of Ukraine on Victory Day, one of the most important events in the country’s national calendar.
The West was “preparing for the invasion of our country, including Crimea,” Putin said, without providing evidence, according to a Reuters translation. He added that NATO poses threats to Russia’s borders.
Speaking ahead of a mass parade of troops, tanks and military equipment in Moscow, Putin also doubled Russia’s strategy to focus on the eastern Donbass region.
“You are fighting for your homeland, its future,” he told pro-Russian separatist fighters based in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
After initially targeting northern, eastern and southern Ukraine in its invasion, Russia changed its strategy and goals in late March after making several territorial gains.
He announced that he was withdrawing from the areas around Kyiv and the north and would instead focus on the “liberation” of the Donetsk and Luhansk districts.
Russia launched an unprecedented invasion of its neighbor Ukraine on February 24th after amassing about 190,000 troops at the borders in the weeks before. There was little evidence of military aggression by Ukraine against Russia, and Moscow’s claims to the contrary were seen by many as a pretext to justify the invasion.
“Katrina Bishop.”
Russia is preparing for Victory Day parades across the country
Mobile launchers of Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles on the streets of Moscow during a rehearsal of Victory Day parade. The last evening rehearsal is one of the main runs before the actual event, scheduled for May 9.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Russia is scheduled to hold mass Victory Day military parades on Monday, with 28 Russian cities marching to mark the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat in Nazi Germany in World War II.
More than 65,000 people will take part in them and about 2,400 armed and material units will be represented, the Russian news agency TASS reported. The largest parade is being held in Moscow and is expected to be chaired by President Vladimir Putin.
In a recorded speech to the leaders of the Group of Seven on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that while May 8 (Victory Day in Europe) “is a key day of remembrance for all victims of World War II, the fragility of peace and inadmissibility of all kinds of antihumanist regimes. But what is a memory of others today, of our people, is unfortunately just news, every day. “
He said a Russian bomb had killed 60 civilians in a village in Luhansk, saying the victims were hiding from a shelling of a school attacked by a Russian air strike.
He said Russia was imitating “exactly the evil that the Nazis brought to Europe”.
“Holly Eliat.”
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States: “We are preparing for everything” before Russia’s Victory Day
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said on Sunday that the nation was preparing for Russia’s Victory Day.
Russian officers march during a rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on May 7, 2022 in Moscow, Russia.
Tiang Bin | Chinese News Service Getty Images
“We know there are no red lines for the regime in Moscow, so we are preparing for everything,” Oksana Markarova told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
“We can count on Putin and imperialist Russia to do all the bad things they can try to do. The question is whether we are all ready – the civilized world – to do everything possible to protect our democracy and freedom, “she said.
“Victory Day” on Monday is a key date for Russia. He notes the defeat of the then Soviet Union over Nazi Germany at the end of World War II in 1945.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to deliver a speech tomorrow, with massive military parades through central Moscow.
“Pippa Stevens, Holly Elliott.”
Jill Biden makes a surprise visit to Ukraine, meeting the first lady
First Lady Jill Biden receives flowers from Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, outside School 6, a public school that accepted displaced students in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on Sunday, May 8, 2022.
Susan Walsh AP
US First Lady Jill Biden paid an unannounced visit to western Ukraine, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with the nation’s first lady, Elena Zelensky, as Russia pushes its criminal war in the eastern regions.
Biden traveled under cover of secrecy, becoming the last high-ranking American to enter Ukraine during its 10-week conflict with Russia.
US First Lady Jill Biden meets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, at School 6, a public school that accepted displaced students in Uzhhorod, Slovakia, on May 8, 2022.
Susan Walsh Reuters
Her visit follows recent stops in the war-torn House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress, as well as a joint trip by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet with President Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv. .
The first lady traveled by car to the city of Uzhgorod from a Slovak village bordering Ukraine.
– Associated Press
Sunday, May 8, 2022, 24:44 EDT
There are fears that dozens have died after a bomb hit a school in the Luhansk region
Ukrainian soldiers carry the coffins of Yuri Samofalov, Yuri Varyanitsa and Alexander Malevsky, 3 Ukrainian soldiers who fell during the fighting against Russia when they arrived at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Lviv, Ukraine on May 6, 2022.
Omar Marquez Anatolian Agency Getty Images
Luhansk Oblast Governor Sergei Haidai said on Sunday that at least two people had died after a school bombing.
Haidai said, according to a Reuters translation, that the bombing took place on Saturday afternoon, where 90 people took refuge. He said 30 had been rescued, with about 60 still under the rubble, and feared they were dead.
Luhansk is one of the two regions that make up Donbass – in eastern Ukraine – where Russian troops are now concentrating.
The Associated Press added that the school is located in the village of Bilogorovka. Rescue operations continue.
NBC News failed to independently verify the reports.
“The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the ruins were cleared and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found,” Haidai wrote in the Telegram news app, according to Sky News.
“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Probably 60 people died under the rubble of buildings.”
“Matt Clinch.”
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