Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commemorated his country’s Victory Day on Tuesday – which marked the defeat of the Nazis in Germany – by defending the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a lengthy tweet on Monday, Medvedev, also a deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said Russia would defeat “horrible Bandera neo-Nazism” in Ukraine, as Russia once helped defeat Nazism in Germany .
“Unfortunately, today’s Europe and its squalid leaders have very short memories. But we will always remember the heroes of World War II. Our country eradicated fascism in 1945,” wrote Medvedev. “Do not doubt: in today’s Europe, we will crush the horrible neo-Nazism of Bandera, so loved by the heirs of the Third Reich in the EU.”
Victory Day is the largest secular holiday in Russia. He regularly hosts a parade in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate victory in WWII.
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Military cadets demonstrate their skills during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade on Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square May 9 to mark 78 years since victory in World War II in St. Petersburg, Russia Sunday, 7 May, 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Despite the threat of a Ukrainian drone strike on the parade, Russian officials have said it will continue as planned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn similar comparisons between the Ukrainian administration and Nazi rule in Germany in the 1940s. He is expected to repeat this claim that Russia is fighting an alleged Nazi regime in Ukraine, a country with a Jewish president.
Medvedev also noted that the Soviet Union lost at least 20 million people fighting in Europe during World War II. Russia has lost about 200,000 people since it first invaded Ukraine last year, according to a tally calculated by the Ukrainian government.
Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll towards Red Square to participate in a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on Sunday, May 7, 2023. (AP Photo)
“I remind the citizens of the countries now fighting against Russia: over a million Soviet soldiers sacrificed their lives for peace and freedom from fascism in Europe,” he wrote in the tweet, adding: “600,000 citizens of the USSR died , freeing Poland from fascism; 380,000 gave their lives freeing Czechia and Hungary, over 100,000 Germany”.
In Ukraine on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had tabled a bill marking Monday, May 8, a federal holiday.
“It is May 8 that most of the nations of the world remember the greatness of the victory over the Nazis,” Zelenskyy said. “The world admires all those who protected and protected life. Who threw Nazi flags over the liberated territory and opened the doors of the concentration camps. Who gave freedom back to the nations, who destroyed and condemned the Nazi evil” .
Most European countries celebrate the defeat of Nazism on May 8th. This would be Ukraine’s latest decision to move away from its Russian roots towards a united Europe.
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He added: “It is May 8 that the world honors the memory of all those whose lives were taken by that war. It is pure history, with no ideological mingling. And it is the history of our people, of our allies, of the entire free world. Today we are returning it to our state.”
“Today I introduced a bill to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine proposing that May 8 be the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II of 1939-1945,” Zelenskyy also said. “Eternal memory to all who died in WWII! Glory to all who fought against Nazism and won! Glory to all our heroes of different eras, to whom we equally owe our lives!”
While Russia claims to have a high position in invading Ukraine, its repeated attacks on the country’s civilian structures and infrastructure have drawn international condemnation.
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Russian soldiers march to Red Square to participate in a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on Sunday, May 7, 2023. (AP Photo)
Rockets rained down on Ukrainian homes and schools, prompting countries around the world to supply Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of weapons and ammunition.
Ukraine has made recent successes in the war, recapturing previously controlled territories, and has launched a counter-offensive on Russian soil.
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Analysts are divided over whether a drone attack on the Kremlin on May 3 was a real attack or a “false flag” operation launched by the Russian military itself to justify its own missile barrages in Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
