Russian regime’s legitimacy rests on the manipulation of history

World War II was a bloodbath of unspeakable proportions, planned and executed by totalitarian powers. It brought the catastrophe of the Holocaust. It also led to the division of Europe and loss of freedom of many nations in Europe, including my own.

Today, at the time of commemoration of 80 years since the end of World War II, Russia is singularly responsible for launching the most devastating war in Europe since 1945. Three years into the full-scale war, Russia has failed to achieve its war aims in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has close to 1 million Russian soldiers killed or wounded to show for it.

On May 9, Putin will attempt to conjure up “victory” by throwing a grotesque military parade in the Red Square. The myth of victory and the manipulation of history have long been a cornerstone of the legitimacy of Putin’s regime. They are also used today to justify any sacrifice, including Russia’s losses since 2022.

Yet, Russia will never succeed in monopolising the suffering or victory over Nazism.

Ukraine is sending the war back to Russia — just in time for Victory Day

Over the past days, Moscow’s grand avenues, like every year in early May, were taken over by the growling of 80-year-old tanks and the smell of gasoline burned by military vehicles. To the delight of many locals, soldiers marched in multiple rehearsals for the May 9 Victory Day Parade in the week leading up to the actual event. But as Moscow prepares for its fourth parade since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the atmosphere this year is different. At the turn of the mont

The Kyiv IndependentKarol Luczka

Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, Kazakhs, and many others, were all fighting side by side. More than 6 million Ukrainians alone fought in the Red Army. From the liberation of Auschwitz to the iconic flag-raising over the Reichstag in Berlin and the signing of Japan’s surrender, Ukrainian soldiers and officers shaped the course of World War II.

Ukrainians both made an extraordinary contribution to the victory and paid the greatest price for it. At least 8 million Ukrainians were killed out of the population of 41 million. Similarly, Belarus became the geographical center of the confrontation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. More than 2 million people were killed on the territory of Belarus, and approximately half of the population of the country was either killed or displaced by the end of the war.

The Russian regime has spent decades and billions of euros to silence the contributions of other peoples to the victory over Nazism, while at the same time whitewashing the Soviet regime’s responsibility for starting the war and its devastating aftermath.

Today’s central Russian propaganda narrative focuses on the “root causes” of the war in Ukraine. These are, of course, Russia’s unfulfilled imperial, colonial ambitions.

Russia seeks to restore its sphere of influence and dominate the future of other European countries. Putin is already playing the part at home, where he is rehabilitating the “monsters of the past” — Stalin, GULAGs, political prisoners in the thousands.

We know from our experience why achieving Russia’s accountability for the war in Ukraine is crucial for peace and security.

The Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine are among the countries that have historically suffered most from imperial spheres of influence. World War II began after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact and secret protocols to it and agreed to the partition of Poland and the occupation of Baltic states in August 1939.

The two totalitarian powers executed their agreement by jointly invading Poland in September 1939. For Latvia, this historical juncture resulted in 50 years of brutal occupation, mass deportations, forced Russification — many of the crimes seen in the occupied territories of Ukraine today.

Crucially, while Nazi crimes have been thoroughly documented, condemned, investigated, and prosecuted — neither the Soviet nor the Russian authorities have ever faced international accountability for crimes during or after World War II.

We see the consequences of this lack of accountability today. Impunity breeds future generations of war criminals, rapists, and murderers. Many of those will be marching on the Red Square on May 9, leaving a bloody trail from their atrocities in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, and many other Ukrainian cities.

Today, we must learn the lessons of World War II and apply them with urgency in support of Ukraine’s fight for freedom. Spheres of influence enable aggression. Accountability is not optional, which is why the work on establishing the special tribunal on Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine must be finalised as soon as possible.

On May 9, we will celebrate Europe day together with our Ukrainian friends for a reason. Ukraine is Europe. Ukraine will become part of the European Union, and there is nothing Putin can do to stop it.

‘The front is noisy’ — for Ukraine’s soldiers, Russia’s Victory Day ‘ceasefire’ is yet another sham

Moscow’s self-declared truce which came into force at midnight on May 8 is not being felt on the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers have told the Kyiv Independent, reporting numerous cases of Russian military activity throughout the day. “There is no truce. There is shelling, artillery, drone and FPV (bomb) drops,” Petro Kuzyk, a battalion commander at the National Guard, said. The Kremlin announced the measure on April 28, claiming all military actions would halt on May 8 to midnight on May 11 t

The Kyiv IndependentChris York,