IRYNA BALACHUK — MONDAY, 9 MAY 2022, 11:18 AM
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the Russian army in Ukraine is fighting on “its own land.”
Source: Putin at the 9 May parade [Victory Day, an annual military event] in Moscow
Quote from the President of the Russian Federation: “Today, the militia of Donbas, together with the fighters of the Russian army, are fighting on their own land, where the combatants of Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, the soldiers of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusilov, fought the enemy, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War Nikolai Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak, Lyudmila Pavlichenko fought to the death.”
Details: Addressing the militants of Donbas and the Russian occupiers, Putin said that they are fighting “for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War, so that there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis.”
Background :
-
Russia attacked Ukraine on 24 February. Putin justified himself and said they did it because Ukraine and NATO were allegedly preparing an attack on Crimea, Russia and even Belarus. Putin claimed the goal of the so-called “special operation” was the need to cleanse Ukraine of “Nazis and Nazi ideology,” as well as to disarm it so that it does not pose a threat to Russia.
-
The Russian military in Ukraine is destroying entire civilian towns and villages with rockets and bombs, killing and torturing civilians, raping women and children, looting, taking everything from Ukrainian homes and administrative buildings, down to spoons and underwear. At least 226 children have been killed at the hands of the occupiers in Ukraine.
-
The Russian forces are destroying infrastructure and food warehouses, and mining fields to disrupt the sowing season.
But despite all this, Ukrainians go out to protest against the occupiers, refuse to take handouts from the Russians, even dying of hunger, and heroically resist, even being under siege for more than two months and not receiving help.
