Explaining Russia’s “Victory Day”

Call me a bad student of history, but I had actually not heard of Russia’s “Victory Day” celebration until last night when I heard about it first from former CA Gubernatorial Candidate and famous YouTuber MeetKevin.

Here was his short clip from last night:

It’s a real thing and it happened today.

See some clips here:

HAPPENING NOW: Victory Day parade gets underway in Moscow pic.twitter.com/JV5w7opKBj

— Sputnik (@Sputnik_Not) May 9, 2022

At the Soviet War memorial, to celebrate Victory Day and to pay my respects to the brave Soviet soldiers that liberated Berlin pic.twitter.com/0Gk6vmYTwP

— General Tiago 🇵🇹🟣🟠 (@scriabinist) May 8, 2022

It has nothing to do with the current war with Ukraine and is related to WW:II.

Of course, here was CNN’s take:

Exclusive: Vladimir Putin "has recognized he has no victory to celebrate," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN in response to the lack of a major escalatory announcement in the Russian President's "Victory Day" speech. https://t.co/uUPoodYCa1

— CNN (@CNN) May 9, 2022

From CNN:

NATIONAL POLL: Do You Still Support President Trump?

Vladimir Putin “has recognized he has no victory to celebrate,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN in response to the lack of a major escalatory announcement in the Russian President’s “Victory Day” speech Monday.

But the Russian leader also gave no indication that he plans to end the war in Ukraine, she cautioned.
In the first reaction from a Biden administration official to Putin’s speech, Thomas-Greenfield noted to CNN that Putin did not use his remarks to announce a withdrawal from Ukraine — which would have been welcomed by the United States — which signals that Putin’s war will continue.

“There was no reason for (Putin) to either declare victory or declare a war that he has already been carrying on for more than two months,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“His efforts in Ukraine have not succeeded,” she added. “He was not able to go into Ukraine and bring them to their knees in a few days and have them surrender.”
During a speech commemorating Russia’s defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II, Putin reiterated his baseless accusation that the West left him no choice but to invade Ukraine. Planned Victory Day air shows across Russia were canceled, raising questions as to why.

In a separate interview on CNN’s “Connect the World” Monday, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said Putin’s speech “wasn’t that surprising” and “completely detached from reality.”

“It’s sad that on this day, on Victory Day, that he’s celebrating aggression and oppression at the same time,” she added.