After more than two months of fighting even Mariupol, a port city that has been pounded by every conventional weapon imaginable, is not entirely in Russia’s hands. But perhaps the most notable absence from the Victory Day parade was the victory itself. Ukrainian intelligence sources believe he was wounded there. Russia’s top soldier was spotted on May 1st near Izyum, the site of the fiercest fighting in eastern Ukraine, and has not been seen since. The latest occurred on May 1st at a military plant in Perm in the Urals, where propellant for Grad and Smerch missiles is made.Īlso missing from the parade was Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff.
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A series of mysterious fires and explosions have struck strategic sites across Russia in recent weeks. A low-flying military plane being shot down by a Stinger missile over Red Square would not have made good publicity for the regime. Ostensibly that was because of low clouds, but some intelligence sources suggested it was really because of security concerns. The reduced number of troops marching in Red Square showed the lack of spare capacity.
The parade was more notable for its absences and omissions than for its pageantry. “An absolutely unacceptable threat to us was steadily being created right on our borders… was forced, timely and the only correct decision.” Just as the Nazis justified their unprovoked attacks on Poland in 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941 by claiming to be acting in pre-emptive self-defence, so did Mr Putin claim in his speech at the parade that Russia had launched a pre-emptive strike against Ukraine and NATO.
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