The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said that “demonstrable operational failings” in Ukraine led to Russian President Vladimir Putin being unable to point to any military successes during a Victory Day celebration this week.
In its latest intelligence update, the defense ministry said that Russia underestimated Ukrainian resistance and their plan was “highly likely to have been based on the mistaken assumption that it would encounter limited resistance.”
Putin gave a speech on Monday highlighting Victory Day for Russia, a major holiday that celebrates the Soviet Union’s defeat over Nazi Germany. in World War II.
In a speech, the Russian president called Ukraine a “threat that was absolutely unacceptable to us [that] has been methodically created next to our borders.”
Russian forces 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,” according to Putin, who has falsely justified the invasion of Ukraine by claiming that the Ukrainian government is filled with Nazis.
Intelligence and military experts had expressed concern that Putin would use Victory Day to ramp up the rhetoric and announce new drastic measures in Ukraine that could escalate tensions globally.
The Defense Ministry, however, said that Russia’s “opening phase” strategy has “led to unsustainable losses” for Moscow and a “subsequent reduction” in operational focus.
At the beginning of the invasion, many believed Ukraine would fall into Russian control within the first week. Almost three months later, Russian forces had no major successes and have been pushed back from the capital city of Kyiv.
In his own speech for Victory Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope to his people and said that Ukraine would never fall to the Russian forces.
“Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “There are no shackles that can bind our free spirit. There is no occupier who can take root in our free land. There is no invader who can rule over our free people. Sooner or later we win.”
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