President Vladimir Putin on Monday insisted Russia was only defending the ‘Motherland’ by its ongoing war in Ukraine, as Moscow staged a show of force at a military parade marking the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy however, on his part, sought to undercut his Russian rival’s display of might, insisting that Kyiv would not allow Moscow to appropriate the Soviet Union’s triumph in World War II.
Putin had gone on to blame the West and Ukraine for ongoing conflict, telling thousands of troops in Moscow’s Red Square that Russia faced an ‘absolutely unacceptable threat’ and warning against the ‘horror of a global war’.
But as huge intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled through the square, Putin made no major announcements, despite reports in the West that he could unveil an escalation of the Ukraine invasion.
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Africa Today News, New York reports that the ongoing war, now well into its third month, is currently focused on eastern Ukraine. Russia is seeking to secure the region, having tried and failed to take the capital Kyiv and the north earlier before now.
An eyewitnesses who spoke to newsmen said they saw columns of trucks filled with soldiers and heavy equipment move down the main road leading away from the city of Severodonetsk, suggesting Ukraine was giving up the defence of its last stronghold in the eastern Lugansk region.
Russian forces were heavily shelling the roads, while the Ukrainians were firing back to help cover the apparent pullout.
Officials said 60 civilians were killed in a Russian air strike on a school in the eastern village of Bilogorivka on Sunday — one of the highest single death tolls since the February 24 invasion.
Lugansk region governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Monday there were “very serious battles” around Bilogorivka and Rubizhne, as Russia tries to take the Russian-speaking Donbas.
Donbas encompasses Lugansk and the neighbouring region of Donetsk.