President Putin railed on about the West, and spun his delusional propaganda about Russia under attack once again today, on the annual Red Square Victory Day.
This is a day Russia displays it’s latest military hardware, and flexes it’s might for the World to see, and for Russian’s to take comfort in.
Today however, only one Russian Soviet era T-38 tank rolled across the square followed by some trucks. And that brought mocking and memes to social media in abundance.
The numbers of Russian tanks lost in Ukraine is staggering, along with the hidden numbers of Russian troop losses.
Russian tanks lost on the battle field to anti tank weapons wielded by Ukrainian soldiers could be as high at 3700 according to Ukraine’s ministry of defence.
Other more conservative estimates, put the numbers between 1000-2000 tanks, but thats still roughly half of Russia’s deployable armour.
Russian troop losses could be 20 thousand since December, with another 80 thousand wounded. Total losses could be as high as 200 thousand since the war was launched in February 2012, with roughly 60 thousand or more dead.
Victory Day is an important marker for Russian’s, many of whom have relatives who died fighting Nazi Germany in World War 2, and the Red Square marches are designed to unify the nation and are used by the Kremlin to send a message to the nation.
Putin said "today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point."
“A real war has been unleashed against our nation" he continued. "We have repulsed international terrorism, we will protect the inhabitants of Donbas." "We will ensure our security."
But the unleashing was done by Russia, when it invaded Ukraine claiming it’s not even a real country. Putin has attempted to turn reality on its head, claiming the attackers are defenders.
And his use of Soviet losses in WW2, to manipulate Russians today to support a Russian attack on Ukraine, seem shallow and immoral.
In Ukraine the Russians fired 60 drones and missiles including 36 at Kyiv, all of which were shot down, although falling debris injured several people.
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Tuesday that he had received a letter from Russia’s Defence Ministry threatening to charge his mercenary outfit with treason after he cited a lack of ammunition, and threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut.
Progozhin also claimed some Russian soldiers had fled positions because of bad command decisions by their Generals. And he warned the Ukrainians appear to be flanking his forces, and preparing to launch the counter offensive long talked about.
May 9 also marks the anniversary of the Robert Schuman Declaration in 1950, a agreement to share coal and steel in post war Europe, and was also seen as the beginning of what is now the European Union.
Today while Putin watched that one tank rolled across Red Square, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recalled the historic plan “to secure long-term peace in post-war Europe”.
He said "Now, just like 80 years ago, we rely on the joint strength of free peoples and know that together we will always be part of a free Europe that will not submit to evil.”
Russia has failed to take the moral ground in this war, and is literally losing on ground to an advancing and determined Ukrainian army, promising to take back territories lost in Putin’s senseless invasion.
Dana Lewis