Was Vladimir Putin planning a big announcement about Russia’s Ukraine offensive? Is he going to announce a victory? Or do you want to start a war? He ended up doing neither.

In his address to Russian forces – and the Russian people – in Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin restated his oft-stated reason for attacking Ukraine: an argument that appears to blame everyone but Russia for the situation.

He slammed America, Nato, and the Ukrainian government, alleging that their actions had jeopardised Russia’s own security. He mentioned “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine (as he often does). We hear this a lot from Russian officials, who regularly allege that fascists, ultra-nationalists, and Nazi supporters have taken over Ukraine.

Putin acknowledged that Russia had incurred military losses, but he did not elaborate. According to the latest official data from Russia’s defense ministry, 1,351 Russian soldiers were killed. That was six weeks ago, though. Since then, there has been no further information.

Surprisingly, Mr Putin did not use his usual words to describe Russia’s offensive: “Special Military Operation.” He didn’t even call it a war. However, he attempted to draw analogies between the current conflict and World War II. Perhaps an attempt to generate patriotic sentiment in the wake of Hitler’s defeat in order to increase popular support for the invasion of Ukraine in Russia.

[embedpost slug=”elon-musk-ignited-firestorm-on-social-media-by-posting-cryptic-post-about-dying-under-strange-circumstances/”]