Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the soldiers deployed in Ukraine in a massive parade in Moscow for the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, in the presence of foreign leaders, including the Chinese president and that of Brazil.
Coinciding with the commemorations, the Russian president declared a unilateral fire in Ukraine between May 8 and 10, which entered into force at midnight on Thursday.
However, Ukraine described him as “farce” and said he registered Russian attacks throughout the front line and hundreds of rapes of the truce.
The Kremlin takes advantage of the commemoration of the 80 years of the end of World War II to envive patriotism in Russia and project diplomatic influence abroad, with the presence of presidents such as the Chinese Xi Jinping and the Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“The whole country, society and the people support participants in the special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said in a speech from La Tribuna, where he exhibited their proximity to XI.
Nearly 1,500 soldiers who fought in the offensive in Ukraine participated in the colossal military parade in the Red Square in Moscow, with about 11,000 troops, state media reported.
“We are proud of his courage and determination, of his strength of spirit, which has always led us to victory,” Putin added.
In front of their diplomatic offensive, several Foreign Ministers of the European Union traveled to the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine, where they approved, in coordination with kyiv, the creation of a special court to judge Russian leaders for the aggression to Ukraine.
Putin defended in his speech that Russia “was and will be an indestructible barrier against Nazism, Russophobia and anti -Semitism.”
29 leaders from allied countries or commercial partners, such as China and Brazil, but also from Cuba, Venezuela, Kazakhstan and Vietnam participated in the ceremony.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, left the Red Square making a sign of the victory with his fingers, accompanied by his wife, Cilia Flores.
The Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, was also in Moscow, challenging the European Union line of isolating Russia since Putin launched the offensive in Ukraine, in February 2022.
-Putin greeted the North Korean military present at the ceremony, openly celebrating cooperation between the two countries. Pyongyang troops fight next to Russian troops.
After the parade, Putin received Lula already Fico at Kremlin.
“Proud of our country”
For days, the streets of Moscow have been decorated with patriotic emblems and the vast majority of stores and restaurants hung posters to remember the 1945 victory.
“This holiday makes us proud of our country,” Vladimir told AFP, a 40 -year -old Moscow, who went to his pregnant wife and some friends to see the parade.
“It’s great that so many leaders have come, it means that we are closer to victory,” said Andrei Malakhov, a 39 -year -old businessman.
Ukraine accuses the Russian army of raping the truce with attacks in Kherson, in the south, and in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, which left several injured.
The Russian Ministry of Defense states that troops respect “strictly” the high fire and that they simply respond to Ukraine actions.
Ukrainian soldiers near the city of Pokrovsk, in the east of the country, declared this Friday at the AFP that the fighting continued, although there were localized truces that allowed evacuating wounded or dead soldiers.
In his mediation attempt, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed on Thursday a high unconditional fire in the conflict and threatened sanctions.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed his satisfaction for Trump’s “very clear call”, a proposal that already support Finland, Baltic countries or United Kingdom, among others.
World War II, known in Russia as the “Great Patriotic War,” caused more than 20 million dead and trauma is still alive in Russian society.
Since the beginning of the offensive against Ukraine, the Russian authorities prohibited any criticism of the Armed Forces and intensified repression, which led hundreds of people to jail and forced exile to exile to other other critics with the government.
