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Miami Herald
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Russia holds WWII Victory Day celebrations in Red Square as fighting in Ukraine rages on
May 9 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin led celebrations marking 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a parade Friday in Moscow's Red Square of more than 11,000 troops, war-era T-34 tanks, light and heavy armored vehicles and advanced military hardware. Putin was flanked by Chinese President Xi Jinping and 26 other world leaders who flew in specially to witness the proceedings, which featured a People's Liberation Army unit and 12 other contingents from former Soviet republics, non-aligned countries and communist Vietnam and Laos. However, the state-run TASS news agency stressed that veterans from the United States and Israel who fought in World War II would also be taking part. The events started with the Preobrazhensky Regiment Honor Guard carrying the Russian national flag and the Victory Banner hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin by soldiers of the 150th Idritskaya Rifle Division in May 1945. Around 1,500 troops serving in Russia's war in Ukraine were among the forces on parade. In his address, Putin tried to link the tragedy that befell Russia and the 80% of the world drawn into what he called the "fiery orbit of World War II," to the war on Ukraine saying Russia had, and would always be, an "indestructible obstacle to Nazism, Russophobia and anti-Semitism" sworn to stop violence "perpetrated by the champions of these aggressive and destructive ideas." "Truth and justice are on our side. The whole of Russia, our society and all people support the participants in the special military operation," he said. A three-day truce announced by Putin last month for the celebrations that was supposed to go into force Thursday appeared to have fallen by the wayside with Ukraine's General Staff reporting Friday morning its forces had come under Russian attack almost 200 times in the past 24 hours on 10 of 13 fronts, as well as in Russia's Kursk region. In a post on social media, the General Staff claimed Ukrainian forces repelled all the attacks, but acknowledged fighting had been particularly fierce on the Kharkiv front where Russian forces mounted four assaults near Vovchansk close to the border. "In total, Russian forces lost 1,300 people. Also Ukrainian soldiers damaged four tanks, four combat armored vehicles, 36 artillery systems, 39 Kh-BPLA drone-launched missiles and 120 other vehicles," said the General Staff. Civilian targets were also attacked in several front-line regions, injuring three people. Zaporizhzhia Gov. Ivan Federov said in an update on his Telegram account Friday that a 45-year-old man has been injured in a drone attack on the village of Bilenke on the right bank of the Dnieper River. The Kherson province Military Administration said on social media that a 60-year-old resident of Kherson was in the hospital in serious condition after sustaining blast injuries and shrapnel wounds to his legs from a drone strike early Friday. An 83-year-old man was injured in the Nikopol area of Dnipropetrovsk but would be treated as an outpatient, the province's governor, Serhii Lysak, wrote in a post on Telegram. Ukrainian Air Force Command told the Pravda Ukrainska news agency Friday that border areas of the eastern Sumy province had been targeted with more 150 guided aerial bombs since the cease-fire came into effect and that attacks by Russian Su-34 warplanes, escorted by Su-35 fighter jets, were ongoing. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Spectator
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Victory Day has been a good day for Vladimir Putin
It was almost like old times, but also a sign of the new. Vladimir Putin's Victory Day parade passed off without a hitch, rumbling and squeaking with armour, untroubled by Ukrainian drones, and watched over by foreign leaders there in a sign of support. Yet the efforts made to ensure the parade ran smoothly, the nature of the guest list, and Putin's rhetoric all highlighted the new times. The most recent iterations of the parade had been distinctly reduced affairs, a single Second World War vintage T-34 tank substituting for the usual phalanx of tanks, and the guests largely confined to Putin's clients. For the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe – the Great Patriotic War in Russian parlance – and symbolically to signal Russia's resurgence, Putin was determined to replay the old hits. After the T-34s came almost 200 other vehicles, from T-90M tanks to relatively new systems such as the TOS-2 Tosochka incendiary rocket launcher, Titan high-mobility vehicle, and Malva self-propelled guns, and also some of the drones being used in the war, from Orlan reconnaissance platforms, to Geran-2 strike models. Along with more than 11,000 troops were contingents from other countries, the largest of which was Chinese, parading under the gaze of Xi Jinping.
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Russia Flaunts 'Weapons Of War' At V-Day Parade: T-34 Tanks, S-400, Artillery, Drones & Jets
Russia flaunted its weapons of war and paraded them in Moscow's Red Square as the nation marked 80 years since Nazi Germany's defeat. Russian troops fighting in Ukraine marched together with Chinese forces in a Victory Day celebration. This year's Victory Day parade welcomed the highest number of foreign heads since 2015 – at least 27 – including the leaders of Brazil, Slovakia and Serbia. Russia flaunted T-34 tanks, S-400, artillery, drones and fighter jets at the parade. Watch. Read More
Al-Ahram Weekly
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
El-Sisi attends Moscow's WWII Victory Day parade in Red Square - Foreign Affairs
The annual event, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. More than 20 foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, attended the parade. The parade showcased a significant display of Russia's military hardware, with nearly 200 tanks, including the iconic WWII-era T-34, leading the procession. According to Russian media reports, armoured vehicles, artillery systems, drones, and infantry vehicles were also seen traversing Red Square, followed by a flypast of fighter jets and bombers. Troops from 13 countries, including Military Police personnel of the Egyptian Armed Forces, participated in the march. President El-Sisi's presence in the Russian capital followed an invitation from Putin. He arrived in Moscow on Thursday. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
IOL News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Soviet Union and South Africa: Allies in World War II
Roman Ambarov, Ambassador of Russia to South Africa. Image: MFA of Russia Russia's Ambassador Ambarov on the 80th anniversary of the victory that crushed Nazism, liberated Europe, and laid the foundations of the African national freedom movement May 9, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, the most important and dramatic part of World War II, a triumph that came at an immense human cost and shaped the course of modern history. These days, we are celebrating the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union to the victory over Hitler's Germany and the liberation of Europe from Nazism. Lest we forget that nearly 90% of all Nazi military casualties occurred on the Eastern Front, and it was the Red Army that stormed and single-handedly captured Berlin. We are honouring not only a military victory, but also the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of the Soviet people who endured the deadliest conflict in human history. Nearly 27 million lives were lost in the Soviet Union alone – one in every seven citizens. In contemporary Russia, it is almost impossible to find a family whose relatives did not go through ordeals of the war. Practically everyone has some kind of personal connection to that era of righteous struggle and sacrifice. Even though my own grandfather did not serve on the front lines, he was one of the principal designers of the T-34, a legendary Soviet-made battle tank. His expertise and persistence enabled the creation of one of the most reliable and efficient combat vehicles of its time. Mass production and deployment of tens of thousands of T-34 tanks had literally turned the tide of the war. As the world celebrates the 80th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi Germany by the Red Army and its allies, I would like to seize this opportunity to recall another significant chapter of WWII history – South Africa's contribution to our common victory. Lend-Lease transit, arctic convoys, and tea in Crimea We will always remember that during World War II South Africa was our ally and an important member of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. South African waters were of strategic importance during the period when the supply route through the Dardanelles was closed. Cape Town, for example, played a crucial role in the Lend-Lease freight, being a principal port of call for Anglo-American ships delivering war goods to the Soviet Union via the Persian Gulf. 'Crush the Fascist Reptile!', a poster by The Medical Aid for Russia, a South African charity (early 1940s) Image: DISA Around 3,000 South African seamen served in the Royal navy, many of them – on board Allied vessels carrying valuable supplies to our northern ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk to relieve besieged Leningrad. Those long and perilous sea journeys were carried out in harsh weather conditions and under constant threat of being attacked and sank. I have warm memories of my encounters with South African veterans of the Arctic Convoys, whom I had a privilege to meet while serving as Russia's Consul General in Cape Town in 2015–2019. In late January 1945, SAAF's DC-3 transport airliner flew a secret mission from Cairo to Soviet Russia via Libya's Tobruk and Athens. The job was to transfer passengers and observe weather during some top brass talks. Oddly enough, South African aircrew found themselves in the recently liberated Crimea to witness the historic Yalta Conference of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill. Held in the imperial Livadia Palace, the meeting shaped Europe's geopolitical landscape for decades to come. Many years later, the flight engineer of that mission shared his Crimea reminiscences in a brief interview. Not to forget, he told a journalist that the wife of Simferopol airfield's officer-in-command invited the South Africans for tea and cake. Grassroots humanitarian aid and Shostakovich's African premiere Moscow and Pretoria re-established diplomatic relations on 21 February 1942, just weeks after Hitler had failed to capture Russia's capital city. Due to the unprecedentedly fierce resistance put up by the Soviet troops, the Red Army repelled the Nazi onslaught and went into a massive counter offensive. At that dramatic time ,more than 9,000km away from the Eastern Front, in South Africa, a number of local pro-Soviet groups were running prominent campaigns of solidarity with the USSR and its people. Between 1942 and 1945, South African charities such as the Medical Aid for Russia and the Friends of the Soviet Union, raised about £1m (approximately R1.2 billion today) to purchase and donate to the Soviet Red Cross much needed medications, surgical equipment, food, clothes, footwear, and other essential goods. In the fall of 1943, for instance, we received 2,200 tons of such aid delivered by the Hoperange cargo ship. South African humanitarian relief, especially anti-typhoid vaccine and blood serum, reached many hospitals and orphanages in war-torn areas of the USSR, helping to save thousands of lives. In our embassy in Pretoria, we keep a stack of copies of declassified diplomatic correspondence dating those years. Looking through these faded typewritten pages gives me a peculiar moving feeling. Among the reports of Soviet Consul General's encounters with top officials of the Union of South Africa like Prime Minister J.C. Smuts and Secretary of External Affairs D.D. Forsyth, there are numerous records regarding public diplomacy and fundraising events organised by pro-Soviet groups all around South Africa. To name a few. In July 1944, the University of the Witwatersrand hosted the two-day African-Soviet friendship congress attended by 600 delegates from SA and some neighbouring countries. In November 1944, in Johannesburg, the Friends of the Soviet Union launched the Soviet Pavilion with exhibition halls, open-air tea garden, and, of course, a vodka bar. Up to 250,000 people visited the pavilion to learn more about life and the struggle of the USSR during World War II. The Medical Aid for Russia, run by its relentless chairman Haim Schneier, a physiologist from Johannesburg, organised anti-fascist rallies, screened Soviet feature films and documentaries, and even introduced Russian classical music to local audiences. Dmitri Shostakovich's Seventh 'Leningrad' Symphony, a work that became a musical manifesto of resistance to Nazism, was premiered on 9 July 1944 in Joburg and, two months later, in Cape Town. The proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to the Soviet Union's war effort. Such solidarity events were often attended by South Africans of all races, including prominent activists of the CPSA and ANC. Victory that secured our future Today, it is frustrating to see that some people begin to perceive Nazism as some sort of abstract evil of the past. In fact, the ideology of Nazism has always been rooted in particular concepts of racial superiority and European colonialism, things that South Africans may understand better than anyone else. Given this vile nature of Nazism, its ultimate defeat in 1945 laid the foundations of the world as we used to know it. The UN Charter, the era of decolonisation and independence in Africa and Asia, the fall of apartheid, and the rise of the Global South – none of these, indeed, would be possible without our victory in the Great Patriotic War 80 years ago. Written by Roman Ambarov, Ambassador of Russia to South Africa ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Star, IOL or Independent Media.
