Putin beordrar styrkor att gå in i Ukraina - INVASION NU (2022-02-24)

Dear citizens of Russia!

Dear veterans!

Comrade soldiers and sailors, sergeants and foremen, midshipmen and ensigns!

Comrade officers, generals and admirals!

I congratulate you on the Great Victory Day!

The defense of the Motherland, when its fate was being decided, has always been sacred. With such feelings of genuine patriotism, the militia of Minin and Pozharsky rose for the Fatherland, went on the attack on the Borodino field, fought the enemy near Moscow and Leningrad, Kyiv and Minsk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Kharkov.

So now, these days you are fighting for our people in the Donbass. For the security of our Motherland - Russia.

May 9, 1945 is forever inscribed in world history as a triumph of our united Soviet people, their unity and spiritual power, an unparalleled feat at the front and in the rear.

Victory Day is near and dear to each of us. There is no family in Russia that was not scorched by the Great Patriotic War. Her memory never fades. On this day, in the endless stream of the "Immortal Regiment" - children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. They carry photographs of their relatives, fallen soldiers who have remained forever young, and veterans who have already left us.

We are proud of the unconquered, valiant generation of victors, that we are their heirs, and it is our duty to keep the memory of those who crushed Nazism, who bequeathed us to be vigilant and do everything so that the horror of a global war does not happen again.

And therefore, despite all the disagreements in international relations, Russia has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security, a system that is vital for the entire world community.

In December last year, we proposed to conclude an agreement on security guarantees. Russia called on the West to an honest dialogue, to search for reasonable, compromise solutions, to take into account each other's interests. All in vain. The NATO countries did not want to hear us, which means that in fact they had completely different plans. And we saw it.

Openly, preparations were underway for another punitive operation in the Donbass, for an invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea. In Kyiv, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. The NATO bloc has begun active military development of the territories adjacent to us.

Thus, a threat absolutely unacceptable to us was systematically created, moreover, directly at our borders. Everything indicated that a clash with neo-Nazis, Bandera, on whom the United States and their younger partners staked, would be inevitable.

I repeat, we saw how the military infrastructure is being developed, how hundreds of foreign advisers began to work, there were regular deliveries of the most modern weapons from NATO countries. The danger grew every day.

Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression. It was a forced, timely and only right decision. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.

The United States of America, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, started talking about its exclusivity, thereby humiliating not only the whole world, but also its satellites, who have to pretend that they do not notice anything and meekly swallow it all.

But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up love for the Motherland, faith and traditional values, the customs of our ancestors, respect for all peoples and cultures.

And in the West, these thousand-year-old values, apparently, have decided to cancel. Such moral degradation became the basis for cynical falsifications of the history of the Second World War, inciting Russophobia, praising traitors, mocking the memory of their victims, erasing the courage of those who won and suffered the Victory.

We know that American veterans who wanted to come to the parade in Moscow were effectively banned from doing so. But I want them to know that we are proud of your exploits, your contribution to the common Victory.

We honor all the soldiers of the allied armies - the Americans, the British, the French - the participants of the Resistance, the brave soldiers and partisans of China - all those who defeated Nazism and militarism.

Dear comrades!

Today, the militia of Donbass, together with the fighters of the Russian Army, are fighting on their own land, where the combatants of Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, the soldiers of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusilov, fought the enemy, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War - Nikolai Vatutin, Sidor Kovpak, Lyudmila Pavlichenko fought to the death.

I am now addressing our Armed Forces and the Donbass militia. You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War. So that there is no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis.

Today we bow our heads before the blessed memory of all whose lives were taken by the Great Patriotic War, before the memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends.

We bow our heads before the memory of the martyrs of Odessa, who were burned alive in the House of Trade Unions in May 2014. Before the memory of the elderly, women and children of Donbass, civilians who died from ruthless shelling, barbaric strikes of neo-Nazis. We bow our heads before our comrades-in-arms, who died the death of the brave in a righteous battle - for Russia.

A moment of silence is announced.

(A minute of silence.)

The death of each of our soldiers and officers is grief for all of us and an irreparable loss for relatives and friends. The state, regions, enterprises, public organizations will do everything to care for such families and help them. We will give special support to the children of the dead and wounded comrades. The Presidential Decree on this was signed today.

I wish the wounded soldiers and officers a speedy recovery. And I thank the doctors, paramedics, nurses, medical staff of military hospitals for their selfless work. A low bow to you for fighting for every life - often under fire, on the front line, not sparing yourself.

Dear comrades!

Now here, on Red Square, soldiers and officers from many regions of our vast Motherland stand shoulder to shoulder, including those who arrived directly from the Donbass, directly from the combat zone.

We remember how Russia's enemies tried to use bands of international terrorists against us, tried to sow national and religious enmity in order to weaken and split us from within. Nothing succeeded.

Today, our fighters of different nationalities are together in battle, covering each other from bullets and shrapnel like brothers.

And this is the strength of Russia, the great, indestructible strength of our united multinational people.

Today you are defending what your fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers fought for. For them, the highest meaning of life has always been the well-being and security of the Motherland. And for us, their heirs, devotion to the Fatherland is the main value, a reliable support for the independence of Russia.

Those who crushed Nazism during the Great Patriotic War showed us an example of heroism for all time. This generation of winners, and we will always look up to them.

Glory to our valiant Armed Forces!

For Russia! For victory!

Hooray!