Putin says Russia is defending the "Motherland" as the Ukraine conflict rages.
Ukraine, KYIV (AFP)— As Moscow flexed its military muscle at a parade commemorating the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany, President Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia's war in Ukraine was necessary to defend the "Motherland." Despite reports that he would announce an escalation or a general mobilisation, Putin's speech in Red Square made no major announcements about Russia's next steps in the invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose forces are fighting Russian troops in the east, used the occasion to declare that Moscow would not be allowed to appropriate the Soviet Union's World War II victory. Ukraine, YIV (AFP)— As Moscow flexed its military muscle at a parade commemorating the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany, President Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia's war in Ukraine was necessary to defend the "Motherland." The Red Square celebration also included 11,000 troops and more than 130 military vehicles, though a planned milita