Victory Day through the prism of Russia-Ukraine war
Russia marked this year’s Victory Day (V-Day) on May 9 still engaged in a serious war with what President Vladimir Putin claimed were “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine at the onset.
In late February, Putin made televised remarks that the aim of the war was to “denazify” Ukraine, a reference to alleged atrocities against Russians “who for eight years now have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.”
Putin made special reference to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; who is of Jewish descent, accusing his government of planning “genocide” against Russian speakers.
Recently, Putin apologised to Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for claims by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, that even the Führer- Adolf Hitler, who murdered at least six million Jews during the World War Two (WWII), had Jewish blood.
Sergey declared that “the most rabid anti-semites tend to be Jews”. Essentially, Sergey meant the fact that Zelenskyy is a Jew is not an assurance that he cannot turn on his own to achieve a certain objective. The comments hit a raw nerve which was bound to open old wounds.
While V-Day in Russia is a day of celebration, it is also a day of sadness. It commemorates the formal surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 after the war had taken a hefty toll on them. Ironically, during WWII, both the West and the Soviet Union were fighting the Third Reich as allies, with Soviet leader Josef Stalin credited for forcing Nazis to final surrender.
The current Russia-Ukraine conflict evokes bitter-sweet memories of WWII. According to data from the apolitical United States (U.S) based World Population Review (WPR), the Soviet Union is estimated to have suffered the highest number of WWII casualties.
At least 27 million Soviets lost their lives, which included military personnel and civilians who died directly from the war, and indirectly due to famine and disease due to the scorched earth.
Casualties globally
WPR notes that among the Soviet Union’s 15 republics, Russia suffered the highest number of casualties, with an estimated 14 million military and civilian deaths. Interestingly, Ukraine had the second highest number of WWII casualties globally, with at least 6,850,000 military and civilian deaths.
For Russia, it appears like a case of stopping history from repeating itself. The notion that external forces could cause such an unmitigated human disaster on Russian soil, once more naturally breeds insecurity arising from unpredictable and covert operations in the country’s neighborhood. May be WWII would not have happened if European countries had been proactive in reading the signs of the times and correctly decoding the machinations of the Nazis.
In the run up to V-Day, in the international media speculated about what Putin planned for the day. They predicted that he had to do something huge to assuage his countrymen from their increasing anxiety about the outcome of the ongoing war.
That Putin is likely to use the occasion to officially declare a full blown war on Ukraine as a way of pulling all stops to escalate Russia’s so called special military operation.
The speculation did not become reality. However, it is doubtful that owing to the gravity of the war, this year’s celebrations will be as upbeat as the previous ones. It will most likely be a day of reflection, taking stock of what the war means for Russia, the region and the world as a whole. Against the backdrop of the V-Day, experts fear that the Russia-Ukraine war has the potential to spillover to another global conflict, as the West gangs up against Russia in Ukraine.
While Russia has not appealed for military support from its allies, it does not mean that the communist country does not have powerful friends who can flex their muscles as well. Basically, the world is on tenterhooks.
— The writer comments on international affairs
