Putin
Puts on Show of Defiance as Cease-Fire Talks Drag On
Russia’s
president used the celebration of victory in World War II to highlight the
resources he has to keep fighting in Ukraine.
Paul Sonne
By Paul
Sonne
Reporting
from Berlin
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/world/europe/putin-russia-victory-day-parade.html
May 10, 2025
He hugged a
North Korean general. He squired China’s leader around with special care. He
spoke of the sacrifices of soldiers. And he paraded Russian-made drones for the
first time across Red Square.
President
Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drew attention to the very factors that have
enabled him to wage war against Ukraine into a fourth year, as he presided over
festivities on Friday in Moscow to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Soviet
victory over the Nazis during World War II.
Mr. Putin’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 initially proved catastrophic for
Russian forces, but he has since turned around the situation on the
battlefield. Among his helpers: North Korean soldiers and ammunition, Chinese
oil purchases and technology, Russian soldiers shouldering immense losses and
seemingly unending swarms of Russian drones.
All were
represented on Red Square in some way, as the Russian leader underscored to the
world, through a Soviet-style display of pageantry and militarism, that he does
not need to stand down in Ukraine.
“Truth and
justice are on our side,” Mr. Putin told the more than 11,500 military
personnel that the Kremlin said had gathered for the parade, including over
1,500 involved in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
“The whole
country, society and people support the participants of the special military
operation,” Mr. Putin added, using the Kremlin’s chosen euphemism for the war.
Alexander
Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said the events
were calibrated to communicate a clear message: “If people believe that Russia
is exhausted, that the will, equipment and personnel to fight is not there,
these people are dead wrong.”
“That’s the
message that he’s trying to send,” Mr. Gabuev said. “Not necessarily that this
is the reality.”
Mr. Gabuev
noted that in addition to the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, one of the most
powerful people in the world, Mr. Putin also welcomed President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva of Brazil, the largest country in Latin America. Their presence
was part of a broader attempt by the Kremlin to show that despite isolation
from the West, Russia has maintained and in many cases improved ties elsewhere.
In a trip
that will serve as a response to Mr. Putin’s gathering, the leaders of four
nations allied with Ukraine — Britain, France, Germany and Poland — on Saturday
made their first joint visit to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Their arrival was
intended to show their support and highlight their calls for Russia to agree to
a 30-day unconditional cease-fire.
The events
came as President Trump, who had promised on the campaign trail to broker peace
in Ukraine within 24 hours, said talks with Russian officials were continuing.
He reiterated his support for the cease-fire, which Kyiv has supported, and
threatened to impose additional sanctions if Russia holds out.
“Thousands
of young soldiers are dying on a weekly basis, and everybody should want it to
STOP,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the events. “I do, and the
United States of America does, also.”
Mr. Trump is
scheduled to embark this coming week on a trip to the Middle East, the first
major foreign foray of his second term, though he has said he will not meet
there with Mr. Putin.
Trump
administration officials came in with enthusiasm about striking a deal with Mr.
Putin to end the war in Ukraine, but they have since said Russia is asking for
too much in negotiations and have threatened to walk away.
Mr. Putin
could welcome that outcome, particularly if could continue normalizing
relations with Washington and achieve sanctions relief, without having to make
concession on Ukraine.
“The
question going forward will be: If the U.S. in fact does pull back from the
negotiations to try to end the war, will the U.S.-Russia track, the reset,
continue?” said Angela Stent, a Russia expert and professor emerita at
Georgetown University. “I think we don’t quite know that yet. What Putin wants,
and he has wanted that from the beginning, is to separate the two.”
In comments
broadcast on Sunday on state television, Mr. Putin said Moscow had “enough
strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion
with the outcome Russia requires.”
The day
before Friday’s Victory Day festivities, Mr. Putin held a separate summit for
Mr. Xi, the Kremlin’s most important foreign partner, and signed a raft of
joint documents that rebuked United States both implicitly and explicitly.
The
statements seemed calibrated to communicate that despite Mr. Trump’s demands in
peace negotiations with Moscow and in his trade war with Beijing, the nations
would stand together.
Mr. Xi
denounced what he called hegemonic bullying, a clear reference to Mr. Trump’s
trade broadside. Mr. Putin, who has toned down his vitriol against the United
States while hoping to reset ties with Washington, for once seemed the less
confrontational of the two.
“The timing
and the tone is probably not what Russia would want to have,” Mr. Gabuev said.
“But that’s the price you pay for being a partner of China.”
Paul Sonne
is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of
President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on
the war against Ukraine.
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