Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine, says Vladimir Putin

Russian forces in Ukraine are defending the motherland from an ‘absolutely unacceptable threat’, Vladimir Putin claims.

Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu leave Red Square on Monday. Picture: AFP

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that ­Russian forces in Ukraine were defending the motherland from an “absolutely unacceptable threat”, as he opened the annual parade marking victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

In counterpoint, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would not allow Russia to appropriate the victory.

“Today we celebrate Victory Day over Nazism. We are proud of our ancestors who together with other nations in the anti-­Hitler coalition defeated Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to annex this victory. We will not allow it to be appropriated,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Both Ukraine and Russia have likened actions by the other side’s army to those of Nazi Germany, whose defeat by the Soviet Union in 1945 is celebrated in former ­Soviet countries on May 9.

In what looms as a strategic blow for Mr Putin, Sweden’s ­ruling Social Democrats said on Monday night the party would announce its position next Sunday on whether the traditionally ­neutral country should apply for NATO membership. A decision in favour of joining would in all likelihood pave the way for ­Sweden to submit a membership bid and neighbouring Finland is expected to make a decision on joining the alliance within days.

US singer Bono, left, guitarist The Edge, right, and Antytila, a Ukrainian musical band leader and now the serviceman in the Ukrainian Army, perform at subway station in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

Mr Putin told thousands of troops gathered in Moscow’s Red Square that Russian forces in Ukraine were continuing the battle against Nazism, but that it was important “to do everything so that the horror of a global war does not happen again”.

The Russian President made no major announcements in the speech, despite reports in the West that he could use the anniversary to announce an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine or a general mobilisation in Russia.

Instead, Mr Putin looked to rally public support for the campaign by linking the current conflict to what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.

Addressing Russian forces in Ukraine, he said: “You are fighting for the Motherland, for its ­future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War.”

Mr Putin blamed Ukraine and the West for the conflict, saying Kyiv and its allies had been preparing “an invasion of our historical lands” including in the Russian-speaking Donbas region and in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

MSTA-S self-propelled howitzers parade through Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Monday. Picture: AFP

“An absolutely unacceptable threat to us was being created, ­directly on our borders,” Mr Putin said, pointing to NATO weapons deliveries to Ukraine and the ­deployment of foreign advisers.

Russia had no choice, Mr Putin said, but to undertake a pre-emptive response to aggression, calling it “the only right decision” for a “sovereign, strong and independent country”.

Russia marked the 77th anniversary of its defeat of Nazi ­Germany with parades and marches, including the main celebration in Red Square featuring 11,000 troops and more than 130 military vehicles. Up to a million people were expected to take part in the celebration.

In his victory day speech, Mr Zelensky listed several Ukrainian towns and cities currently under control of invading Russian ­forces, saying that Ukrainians during World War II had ousted Nazi Germany’s forces from these regions. “The names of these ­cities ­inspire us today. They give us faith that we will drive the occupiers from our land,” the President said in the video ­address, listing Mariupol, Kherson, and the Crimean peninsula by name.

“We won then. We will win now.”

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Moscow claiming its operation was in part to “de-Nazify” the country.

Russian servicemen march on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Monday. Picture: AFP

Sweden and Finland have been militarily non-aligned for decades, but public opinion in both countries has shifted following the invasion, with support for membership soaring, according to polls.

Sweden’s centre-left Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, has historically opposed NATO membership, and even reaffirmed this stance at the last party congress in November. But the conflict in Ukraine has reignited debate in the country and within the party.

Finland’s Social Democrats, which are also the ruling party, are expected to announce their position on Saturday.

A Swedish parliamentary ­security policy review, conducted by all parties in parliament, is also due to be presented on Friday.

Both Sweden and Finland have close ties with the alliance, joining the Partnership for Peace Program in 1994 and regularly taking part in exercises with NATO countries and NATO-led peacekeeping missions.

AFP

Smoke rises as flames burn at a train station in Seversk, eastern Ukraine. Picture: AFP