Foreign Media: Putin Holds "Scaled-Down" WWII Victory Parade, With Few Foreign Leaders Attending
Russia held a scaled-down WWII victory parade on Saturday. AFP reporters observed that mobile internet was unavailable in central Moscow today, and the capital’s streets were nearly empty.
The number of foreign dignitaries attending has also decreased. According to Kremlin sources, apart from the leaders of two Georgian breakaway republics supported by Russia but not recognized by the United Nations, only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia, Laos, and Slovak Prime Minister Fico traveled to Moscow.
A Reuters report from Moscow said that the May 9 parade held on Red Square aimed to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, honoring the 27 million former Soviet citizens who lost their lives in that war—including many Ukrainians.
Today’s Moscow parade did not feature tanks or other military equipment rolling across Red Square’s cobblestones. Instead, giant screens and state television showcased weapons systems including the “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile, the new “Arhangelsk” nuclear submarine, “Peresvet” laser weapons, Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jets, S-500 air defense missile systems, along with large numbers of drones and artillery pieces.
At the Lenin Mausoleum, Russian President Putin watched the parade, which included soldiers and sailors who had fought in Ukraine, as well as North Korean troops who had previously battled Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
Fighter jets flew over the Kremlin, after which Putin delivered an eight-minute speech, pledging victory in what the Kremlin refers to as the “special military operation” in Ukraine—an armed conflict that is the deadliest in Europe since World War II.
According to AFP, U.S. President Trump announced a three-day ceasefire agreement the previous day, which ultimately took effect at the last moment, offering some assurance for Moscow’s parade. The day before, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy had accepted Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
Trump stated that during the ceasefire, “each side would exchange 1,000 prisoners of war.”
Zelenskyy said: “For us, the lives of Ukrainian prisoners on Red Square matter more than anything else.”
Source: rfi
Original: toutiao.com/article/1864767312584704/
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