‘West was preparing to invade our land,’ Putin says in Victory Day speech

Putin claimed Russian forces in Ukraine were defending the Motherland from an "absolutely unacceptable threat" as he addressed troops in Moscow's Red Square.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has released a video statement saying Ukraine will not allow Russia to appropriate victory in World War II.

"Today we celebrate Victory Day over Nazism. We are proud of our ancestors who together with other nations in the anti-Hitler coalition defeated Nazism. And we will not allow anyone to annex this victory. We will not allow it to be appropriated," the Ukrainian leader said.

Zelensky listed several Ukrainian towns and cities currently under control of invading Russian forces, saying that Ukrainians during World War II had ousted Nazi Germany's forces from these regions.

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