The major remaining reservoir of troops is Russia’s 2-million-strong reserve force, but mobilization creates new problems for Putin.The Soviet flag flies above the Brandenberg Gate, Berlin Moreover, thousands have been killed in the 77 days of war, and Russian conscripts don’t seem eager to fight. Russia officially had some 900,000 active duty personnel on the eve of the invasion, but a significant portion of those soldiers might only exist on paper. “It will be hard for them to take all of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, unless they want to augment their forces,” said Norberg. Since then, Moscow’s focus has been on the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east, portions of which it captured in 2014. Russia was marking the 77th anniversary of its defeat of Nazi Germany with parades and marches, including the main celebration in Red Square, featuring some 11,000 troops and more than 130 military vehicles.Ī wounded servicemen of Ukrainian Military Forces looks on after the battle with Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Luhansk region on Ma(Anatolii Stepanov / AFP)Īfter embarking on a concerted push to take Ukraine’s capital city, Russia withdrew its forces from Kyiv’s suburbs in early April. “Mother Russia, a call to arms against the existential threat, Ukraine as the bridgehead for the US and NATO aggression.” “It was more inward-looking,” he continued.
“He celebrated that victory and he celebrated the veterans, and as you know, there’s not a lot of veterans left.”
“Other than the memories of the victory of the Second World War, he didn’t have a lot to celebrate,” noted Peter Zwack, US defense attaché to Russia from 2012 to 2014. “There were no concrete gains to point to,” he said. Putin didn’t have much choice but to give a somber address, said Norberg. “You are fighting for the motherland, so that no one will forget the lessons of World War II and there will be no place in the world for hangmen, executioners and the Nazis,” Putin told the assembled troops. – Russia celebrates the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu leave Red Square after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2022. He cast the conflict as inevitable, saying NATO had amped up the threat to Russia by providing Kyiv with new weapons as it drew up plans to invade Russian-held areas of the Donbas region.
Instead of announcing a new phase in the war in his address, Putin justified the invasion, blaming Ukraine and the West for “creating unacceptable threats immediately near our borders.” Is Gerasimov busy elsewhere, is he recovering from a possible wound, or is he being eased out of the picture? Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, rumored to have been wounded in Ukraine on May 1, was nowhere to be seen.ĭid I miss it? I haven't seen General Gerasimov on the reviewing stand or anywhere this morning.
There was another resounding absence at the parade. The most likely explanation for the planes’ absence from the parade in Moscow - and those across the country - is that Russia’s battered air force had few pilots or aircraft to spare, and the scaled-down display would have embarrassed Moscow.
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