Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the West for initiating what he called a "real war" against Russia on the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union's triumph over Nazi Germany on Tuesday.
During the Victory Day ceremony held at Red Square in central Moscow. Vladimir Putin drew parallels between the Soviet victory in 1945 and the Russia-Ukraine War, which he referred to as a "cult of Nazism."
Vladimir Putin emphasized that Russian servicemen and military families from the "special military operation" in Ukraine were present at the ceremony alongside WWII veterans and called on them to safeguard the country's security and statehood, according to NPR.
Due to the ongoing conflict Russia-Ukraine War, the Victory Day ceremony, which typically resembles the grand military parades of the Soviet era, was downsized.
Just before the ceremony, Russia launched a series of airstrikes in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, with Ukrainian officials claiming to have taken down 23 out of 25 missiles.
US Announces New Security Package For Ukraine
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Tuesday a new security assistance package to aid Ukraine's air defense and artillery ammunition needs. The security package, which is valued at up to $1.2 billion, falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), The Guardian reported.
The DoD emphasized that the package demonstrates the United States continued commitment to meeting Ukraine's most pressing requirements by providing critical near-term capabilities, including air defense systems and munitions, while also enhancing the capacity of Ukraine's armed forces to safeguard its territory and deter Russian aggression in the long run.
The package covers additional air defense systems and munitions, tools for integrating western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's air defense systems, ammunition for countering unmanned aerial systems, 155mm artillery rounds, commercial satellite imagery services, and support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities.
While Ukrainian officials have not yet made an official announcement about the beginning of the counteroffensive, a spate of recent explosions targeting fuel depots, power transmission lines, cargo trains, and military buildings in annexed Crimea and western Russia suggests that it is already in progress, as per a report from Al Jazeera.
