• Home
  • News
    • BREAKING!
    • Investigation
    • Media
    • Interview
    • NEWS ANALYSIS
    • PRESS RELEASE
  • Politics
  • Business
    • OIL & GAS
    • AVIATION
    • ENERGY
    • ECONOMY
    • Agriculture
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
    • MUSIC&ENTERTAINMENT
    • PEOPLE/SOCIETY/CELEBRATION
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Mission Statement
  • More
    • INTERNATIONAL
      • AFRICA
      • DIPLOMATIC
      • FOREIGN
    • DISASTER
    • Civil Society/Human Rights
    • EDUCATION
    • Health
    • Columnist
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • Workers World
    • Judiciary
    • Guest Column
    • Opinion
    • RELIGION
    • ADVENTURE
    • HISTORY
    • DEFENCE
    • SEXUAL VIOLENCE
    • ICT
    • SUNDAY SERMON
    • OBITUARY
    • FOR THE RECORD
    • REACTION
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Baptising Umahi In Abuja After Refusing To Learn In Ebonyi; By Owei Lakemfa
  • SIRA Congratulates Amb. Enikanolaiye On Appointment As SSA
  • Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 
  • Rep Urges FG To Expedite Work On Deplorable Makurdi-Aliade Road
  • Looming Strike: Gov. Alia Appeals To Labour To Sheath Sword
  • Again, FCTA Crushes 470 Motorcycles For Illegal Operation In Abuja
  • Macron Plays The Outlaw In Niger Republic; By Owei Lakemfa
  • Stallion Times Trains Journalists On Multimedia Skills In Kogi
Facebook Twitter Instagram
National RecordNational Record
  • Home
  • News
    1. BREAKING!
    2. Investigation
    3. Media
    4. Interview
    5. NEWS ANALYSIS
    6. PRESS RELEASE
    Featured

    SIRA Congratulates Amb. Enikanolaiye On Appointment As SSA

    By National RecordOctober 2, 20230
    Recent

    SIRA Congratulates Amb. Enikanolaiye On Appointment As SSA

    October 2, 2023

    Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 

    October 2, 2023

    Rep Urges FG To Expedite Work On Deplorable Makurdi-Aliade Road

    October 2, 2023
  • Politics
    Featured

    FCT Senator Extends Hands Of Fellowship To Opponents

    By National RecordSeptember 14, 20230
    Recent

    FCT Senator Extends Hands Of Fellowship To Opponents

    September 14, 2023

    NEPC Urges Stakeholders On Improved Trade Facilitation For Export

    August 18, 2023

    Tinubu To Swear In Ministers On Monday

    August 17, 2023
  • Business
    1. OIL & GAS
    2. AVIATION
    3. ENERGY
    4. ECONOMY
    5. Agriculture
    Featured

    Google Gives A Glimpse Of Its Defense In Once-In-A-Generation Antitrust Trial

    By National RecordSeptember 16, 20230
    Recent

    Google Gives A Glimpse Of Its Defense In Once-In-A-Generation Antitrust Trial

    September 16, 2023

    FG Allocates 50% Intervention Initiative To Boost Women Businesses

    September 13, 2023

    NEPC Urges Stakeholders On Improved Trade Facilitation For Export

    August 18, 2023
  • Crime
    Featured

    Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 

    By National RecordOctober 2, 20230
    Recent

    Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 

    October 2, 2023

    Gunmen Abduct Benue Information Commissioner, Police Keep Mum 

    September 25, 2023

    Benue Police Crackdown On Illegal Possession of Firearms, Nab 5 Suspects

    September 22, 2023
  • Entertainment
    1. MUSIC&ENTERTAINMENT
    2. PEOPLE/SOCIETY/CELEBRATION
    Featured

    Fifty Years On, Bruce Lee’s Legacy Squares Up to Modern Life in Hong Kong

    By National RecordJuly 18, 20230
    Recent

    Fifty Years On, Bruce Lee’s Legacy Squares Up to Modern Life in Hong Kong

    July 18, 2023

    Hollywood’s Striking Actors Join Writers on the Picket Lines

    July 14, 2023

    EU Engages Nigerian Artiste, Influencer to Promote Partnership With Africa

    October 28, 2022
  • Sports
    Featured

    Djokovic Eyes No.1 As US Open Gets Underway

    By National RecordAugust 28, 20230
    Recent

    Djokovic Eyes No.1 As US Open Gets Underway

    August 28, 2023

    Plots to Remove Iorfa as Lobi Stars Vice Chairman Thicken

    August 23, 2023

    Neymar Joins Superstars In Saudi Arabia With Mega Al-Hilal Deal

    August 16, 2023
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Mission Statement
  • More
    • INTERNATIONAL
      • AFRICA
      • DIPLOMATIC
      • FOREIGN
    • DISASTER
    • Civil Society/Human Rights
    • EDUCATION
    • Health
    • Columnist
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • Workers World
    • Judiciary
    • Guest Column
    • Opinion
    • RELIGION
    • ADVENTURE
    • HISTORY
    • DEFENCE
    • SEXUAL VIOLENCE
    • ICT
    • SUNDAY SERMON
    • OBITUARY
    • FOR THE RECORD
    • REACTION
National RecordNational Record
Home»News»FOREIGN»Russia Targets Kyiv on Victory Day, Parade Pared Back Amid Shortages at the Front
FOREIGN

Russia Targets Kyiv on Victory Day, Parade Pared Back Amid Shortages at the Front

National RecordBy National RecordMay 9, 2023No Comments5 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest WhatsApp Email

RUSSIA fired cruise missiles at Kyiv on Tuesday and paraded troops across Red Square for its annual celebration of victory in World War Two, pared back amid shortages of manpower and weaponry at the front after a failed winter campaign in Ukraine.

In a fiery 10-minute speech in front of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin thundered against “Western global elites” and said civilisations was at “a decisive turning point”.

“A real war has been unleashed against our homeland,” said the Russian leader, who last year ordered what the West calls an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, destroying cities and killing thousands of civilians.

A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives in Red Square during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 78th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2023. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS.

Underlining how the war has isolated Russia from most of Europe and pushed Ukraine closer to the West, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was visiting Kyiv, where she called Ukraine “the beating heart of today’s European values”.

The holiday commemorating the Soviet victory in World War Two is the most important day in the calendar in Russia under Putin, who casts his invasion of Ukraine as analogous to Russia’s fight against the Nazis. Ukraine, which suffered proportionally greater losses than Russia in World War Two, calls that an abuse of shared history to justify aggression.

The parade was full of traditional pomp but unmistakably scaled down from previous years. In place of phalanxes of modern battle tanks, a single World War Two-vintage T-34 rolled across the square. The usual fighter jet flyover was cancelled.

Putin’s message was also undermined by a new profanity-laced tirade from the boss of Russia’s Wagner private army directed at Moscow’s generals for failing to give his forces enough weapons.

“A combat order came yesterday which clearly stated that if we leave our positions (in Bakhmut), it will be regarded as treason against the motherland,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message. “(But) if there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and be the ones asking who is really betraying the Motherland.”

Missile Attacks Overnight

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow had failed to capture Bakhmut despite a self-imposed deadline to give Putin a battlefield trophy in time for the holiday. Moscow regards capturing Bakhmut as a stepping stone towards taking other cities in Ukraine’s industrial east.

Ukraine said its air defences had shot down 23 of 25 Russian cruise missiles fired chiefly at the capital Kyiv overnight, and there were no reported casualties.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had “launched a concentrated strike using high-precision, long-range sea and air-based weapons aimed against enemy barracks and ammunition depots”.

After a weeks-long hiatus, Russia in late April resumed its tactic of long-range missile strikes against Ukraine and has launched a flurry of attacks in recent days.

The day provided Zelenskiy an opportunity to demonstrate Ukraine’s clear break from Moscow by hosting von der Leyen.

“Our efforts for a united Europe, for security and peace, need to be as strong as Russia’s desire to destroy our security, our freedom, our Europe,” Zelenskiy said at their joint press conference.

Rousing Note

Putin struck a rousing note in his Victory Day speech, saying all of Russia was praying for its heroes at the front and concluding with a cheer for “Russia, for our valiant Armed Forces, for victory!”.

After he spoke, a band struck up and cannon fired a salute. Soldiers marched through the square, followed by armoured vehicles and nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles.

But the Moscow parade was much shorter than usual. Security concerns following attacks including drones that exploded over the Kremlin citadel last week meant parades in some other cities were scaled back or called off. Traditional “Immortal Regiment” processions, in which people carry portraits of relatives who fought against the Nazis, were cancelled.

In Kyiv, there were no reported casualties from Russia’s latest wave of air strikes on the capital. Debris fell on a house in the Holosiivskyi district in the southwest of Kyiv but caused little damage, Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said. Debris lay in a road in Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivskyi district.

“As at the front, the plans of the aggressor failed,” said Sergei Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.

Russia has stepped up its attacks in anticipation of a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive, after Moscow’s winter campaign captured little territory despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two.

Russia marks the Nazi surrender of May 8, 1945, on the following day, because it took effect when it was already after midnight in Moscow. Ukraine symbolised its break from Moscow on Monday by announcing it was shifting its observance to May 8.

Instead, it proclaimed May 9 Europe Day, a date observed by the EU to commemorate the post-war integration movement that led to the founding of the European Union.

“Kyiv, as the capital of Ukraine, is the beating heart of today’s European values,” von der Leyen said at her news conference with Zelenskiy. “Courageously, Ukraine is fighting for the ideals of Europe that we celebrate today.”

Reuters

National Record

Related Posts

SIRA Congratulates Amb. Enikanolaiye On Appointment As SSA

October 2, 2023

Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 

October 2, 2023

Rep Urges FG To Expedite Work On Deplorable Makurdi-Aliade Road

October 2, 2023

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Recent Posts
  • Baptising Umahi In Abuja After Refusing To Learn In Ebonyi; By Owei Lakemfa
  • SIRA Congratulates Amb. Enikanolaiye On Appointment As SSA
  • Abductors Of Benue Commissioner Demand N60m 
  • Rep Urges FG To Expedite Work On Deplorable Makurdi-Aliade Road
  • Looming Strike: Gov. Alia Appeals To Labour To Sheath Sword
About Us
About Us

Contest Communications Limited is a company incorporated to operate a purely ideologically progressive and working class news establishment. Registered in 2019 to bring this idea into reality, National Record, with the domain name: https://nationalrecord.com.ng/ was conceived to operate as an online news publication.

Contact Us

Contest Communications Limited

Address: 2nd Floor, Suite 21B, Dagep Plaza, Opposite Anaconda Garden and Resort, Off Karu Roundabout, Karu-Site, AMAC, Abuja-FCT.

Phone: +2348033209749

Email: Nationalrecordng@gmail.com

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
© 2023 All Right Reserved. National Record. Designed By DeedsTech.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.