Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to celebrate the 77th anniversary of V-Day in Red Square, the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany after losing some 27 million Russians battling the Third Reich from 1941 to 1945. No country fighting in WW II lost more soldiers than the USSR, eventually prevailing with Adolf Hitler committing suicide April 30, 1945 with his partner Eva Braun in his Berlin bunker. U.S. journalists like to talk about Russian propaganda but the sacrifices made by the Russian military in WW II far eclipsed any other country. So when Russia celebrates V-Day it’s a big deal, not to boast or show off military hardware but to celebrate the defeat of the greatest menace in the 20th Century. When it comes to the 21st Century, Putin’s singled out by the Western press for his war in Ukraine, claiming it reflects the same degree to brutality seen in Nazi Germany.
Putin sees parallels to the Russian defeat of Nazis in WW II to the struggle against the U.S and NATO, now encroaching on Russian national security. While the U.S. and EU press like to talk about Putin de-Nazifying Ukraine, making Putin sound insane, the reason for the Ukraine invasion was related to the unlimited supplies of arms flowing from the U.S. and NATO into Ukraine, creating grave security concerns for the Kremlin. All the talk about de-Nazification diverts attention away from the real reason Putin invaded Ukraine. Putin actually sees the U.S. fighting a proxy war against the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Putin admitted May 3 that after over 72-years of Cold War it was inevitable for the U.S. and Russia to go to war. Putin plans a tough speech on V-Day May 9 in Red Square, telling the world that Russia would not repeat the failures of WW II, appeasing Nazi Germany.
Ukrainian officials hail any even as proof of victory over the Russian Federation, including today’s civilians evacuations at Azovstal Steel plan, where Ukrainians take the credit for evacuating civilians. Putin agreed to humanitarian corridors, even though some 2,000 Ukrainian troops remain holed up in the catacombs of the Steel Plant. To call the civilian evacuations a Ukrainian victory shows the extent to which Ukraine finds any silver lining in the most dismal situation. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky brags how the Ukrainian military kept Russia from storming Kiev. Putin decided why put all his eggs into the Kiev basket, instead pivoting to other parts of the county. If Putin wanted to level Kiev, he would have done it, instead redirecting the Ukraine military to the Donbas region. White House and Kiev highlight every killing of Moscow’s generals as proof of victory.
Instead of focusing on Ukrainian battlefield successes, the U.S. press has shifted to talking about Russian oligarchs rising up to oppose Putin’s Ukraine War. U.S. State Department Klepto/Capture Unit Chief Andrew Adams says that Russian oligarch opposition to the war shows that Putin’s losing his grip on power. Adams knows that his false narrative attempt to paint opposition against Putin by Russia’s ruling class. All oligarchs know they serve in their positions at the pleasure of the Russian president. If Putin wants to clip the wings of any Russian oligarch he can do it easily. “That is the signal that I would look for in terms of the solidity and stability of Putin’s grip on these people,” Adams said, not knowing whether Russia’s oligarchs had any real impact in Russian politics. U.S. officials find any silver lining when it comes to Putin’s 22-year reign of power, showing no signs of letting up.
If the U.S. or Ukraine looks to compromise, Istanbul awaits any opportunity to create conditions needed for a ceasefire and peace talks. All the talk about the U.S. supplying Ukraine with more lethal weapons doesn’t bring Putin to the peace table, only spreading the war out indefinitely. Biden accidentally told the press in Warswa, Policant March 26 that there was no way Putin could stay as Russian president. Biden’s 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said April 26 that the aim of the U.S. military in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian army’s capability. Kremlin officials now sees the Ukraine War as a U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation. U.S. and Russia now finding themselves battling to loggerheads in Ukraine, with Ukrainian military and civilians suffering the destruction and carnage. Ukraine’s War will not be solved on the battlefield, must move to the peace table.
Ukraine finds itself battling in Donbas to push back the Russian army, already controlling large swaths of Southeastern Ukraine. To return their territory, Zelensky will have to meet Putin halfway at the peace table, where only diplomacy can resolve the present conflict. Biden and Zelensky can’t possibly think they can beat back the Russian military to the point that they leave Ukraine. Putin already controls a large swath of Ukraine’s Southeastern territory, unable to get it back by brute force. Zelensky hoped with enough U.S. and NATO weapons they could drive the Russian Federation out of Ukraine. Every day that goes by, there’s more carnage and destruction to Ukraine’s infrastructure, requiring Istanbul ceasefire talks at the earliest possible time. “Right now, the reality is that the only person who is going to change Putin’s mind is Putin himself,” said Tom Keatinge, founding director of Center for Financial and Crime and Security Studies, skeptical of oligarch influence on Putin.
