Moscow Parade 2022: Russia against Allies

The 77th Victory Parade in Moscow and large cities of Russia will look little different from the previous ones. They can show new models of Russian weapons. It was reported that for the first time an aircraft-flying headquarters of the top leadership of Russia, accompanied by fighters, would fly over Red Square for the first time.

The demonstration of new weapons will be greeted with irony, since the new Armata tank, shown for the first time at the 2015 parade, has not yet been put into production and has not appeared on the fronts open against Ukraine. "Armata" publicly died out at the rehearsal of the parade in the same year.

The best Russian gift to the whole world on May 9 could be V. Putin's statement from the podium of the mausoleum in Moscow about the end of the war in Ukraine.

Victory parade over the Ukrainian people who fought against fascism in the Second World War

The main difference of  the Moscow parade  to be held this year will be its holding during the days of heavy fighting of the Russian army in Ukraine - on the territory of the people who made the second largest contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany. After Georgia, this is the second case when Russia, as one of the former Soviet republics, is now at war with another former Soviet republic - Ukraine, unreasonably declaring it a fascist country. Ironically, Germany, defeated in 1945 and cleansed of fascism, is now supplying weapons to Ukraine to defend against Russia, which even Russian intellectuals are increasingly associated with fascism in the world.

Methodically destroying Ukraine day after day, Russia set its sights on a war with Moldova - this next goal of Putin was announced by the commander of the troops of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation, General Rustam Minnekaev. Under the gunpoint of Russian national patriots sterilized from the historical memory and other former "fraternal" republics.

Destroying the Ukrainian statehood since 2014, Putin has achieved a fundamental change in the attitude of the majority of Ukrainians to the celebration of May 9th. The latest statistics from May 4 this year show that for 80% of respondents in Ukraine, May 9 is Memorial Day, and only for 15% is Victory Day, while in 2018 there were 58%, according to the results of the all-Ukrainian study "Ideological markers war" conducted by the sociological group "Rating" on April 27.

The results of the study note that until 2022, the May 9 holiday was perceived by the absolute majority (80%) of the adult population as having significant personal symbolism, but in 2022, for a significant part of the respondents, it moved into the category of relics of the past (36%) or everyday life (23 %).

Despite the change in attitude towards the symbolism of Victory Day, Ukrainians highly (78%) appreciate the contribution of the Ukrainian people to the victory over fascism, and 67% are convinced that Ukraine made the greatest contribution to the victory over Germany in World War II. About Russia this opinion is 23% of people are of such opinion about Russia, Belarus - 24%, other countries of the USSR - 21%. As for the allies: 30% of Ukrainians speak of the largest contribution of the United States, 27% of the UK.

Significantly increased support for the recognition of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists  (OUN)- Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) as participants in the struggle for the state independence of Ukraine: 81% support, only 10% are against. Since 2010, the support indicator has quadrupled, and doubled since 2015.

After 1945, many statistics were published on the number of victims of the Second World War. Gradually, from study to study, the number of those killed in the USSR increased from 20 million to 42.7 million people - military and civilian people. The last figure was announced by Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Wolverhampton M. Haynes.

The whole territory of Ukraine was engulfed by the war against fascism

The Russian Federation, as the most populous in the USSR, experienced the greatest human losses in the war. For the same reason, the Ukrainian SSR is considered the second in terms of the number of losses. Moreover, if there was no war on the greater territory of the RSFSR, then the entire territory of the Ukrainian SSR was engulfed in war and destruction.

In the first days of the war, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians joined the ranks of the country's defenders in accordance with the announced mobilization. In total, more than 7 million Ukrainians (25% of the total number of personnel) fought in the Red Army and Navy during the war years. Moreover, the population of Ukraine experienced two waves of mobilization: the first - in July-September 1941 and the second - from the summer of 1943 to the autumn of 1944. In addition, by the end of June 1941, 651 fighter battalions (over 118 thousand people) were created from residents of Ukraine aged 16 to 60 who were not subject to conscription for mobilization.

Ukraine met the beginning of Hitler's aggression with stubborn resistance to the Nazi invaders. Here the South-Western and Southern Fronts were formed, which took on the blows of Army Group South and the first tank group of the Germans. The combat operations of the Soviet troops in Ukraine in the first months of the war were more successful than in other sectors of the front (in the Baltic states and Belarus). The largest tank battle of the Second World War, which took place between June 23-30 near Dubno-Lutsk-Brody, as well as the Korosten defensive operation (July 11 - August 20, 1941) played an important role in disrupting the deadlines for the implementation of the Barbarossa plan and Hitler's attempts command to quickly capture Kyiv.

The heroic defense of Kyiv (71 days) and Odessa (72 days) made it possible to ensure the evacuation from Ukraine beyond the Urals of 550 large enterprises in 30 industries (which accounted for almost half of all capacities put into operation in the eastern regions of the USSR), property and livestock of thousands of collective farms, state farms, dozens of scientific and educational institutions, cultural centers, historical values. More than 3.5 million inhabitants were evacuated from the territory of Ukraine - highly qualified workers and specialists, scientists, creative intelligentsia, who devoted their labor and intellectual forces to the development of the military and economic potential of the USSR. Already in December 1941, the Kharkov Tank Plant produced its first products at a new location (in total, during the war, the plant produced more than 35,000 tanks). Scientists of Ukraine made a significant contribution to the Victory. A group of scientists led by E. Paton developed a method for automatic electric arc welding of T-34 tank hulls. New methods for melting armored steel were invented (I. Dobrokhotov).

Of the 15 fronts that operated during the war, more than half were led by marshals and generals - Ukrainians by origin. More than 200 Ukrainian generals successfully commanded armies, corps, divisions. Ukrainian generals S.K. Timoshenko, F.Ya. Kostenko, V.A. Khomenko, N.F. Vatutin, A.I. Eremenko, R.Ya.Malinovsky, I.D.Chernyakhovsky, P.S.Rybalko, K.S. Moskalenko, D.D. Lelyushenko, A.A. Grechko, F.F. Zhmachenko, S.I. Rudenko, V.F. Gerasimenko, S.G. Trofimenko, I.R. Apanasenko and other military leaders of Ukrainian nationality commanded the Red Army. Now their homeland is being destroyed by Russia. Putin's army rapes Ukrainian women, shoots men, children die of wounds, old people die of starvation in cellars.

In the troops of the 1st-4th Ukrainian fronts in combat, mainly artillery and tank units, rifle formations, Ukrainians made up 60-80% and took an active part in the liberation of their homeland from fascist invaders. Ukrainians fought heroically on all fronts, in all branches of the military and in the fleets, as evidenced by their numerous feats and state awards. Soldiers and officers received 2.5 million orders and medals out of a total of 7 million awards given to soldiers during the war. 2072 Ukrainians became Heroes of the Soviet Union (with a total of 11,605 awarded). Of the 113 twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, there were 32 Ukrainians, and the famous fighter pilot Ivan Kozhedub was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times.

In the occupied territory of Ukraine in 1941-1944, 46 partisan formations and 1993 partisan detachments, brigades and reconnaissance and sabotage groups, with a total number of 518 thousand people, were actively operating.

Ukraine became the epicenter of hostilities during the war years. Ukraine has lost a fifth of the population; irretrievable losses of servicemen-residents of Ukraine in the Second World War amounted to 2.4 million, including combat losses on the fronts - 1.7; on the territory of Ukraine, the invaders destroyed 1 million 366 thousand prisoners of war and 4 million civilians; about 2.5 million people were deported to Germany for forced labor. The population of Ukraine during the war years decreased by 7.5 million (28.2% of the total losses of the USSR in the war). The pre-war population of the republic was restored only by the summer of 1958.

War and temporary occupation caused enormous damage to the economy, the national economy of Ukraine: 714 cities, over 28 thousand villages, 16 thousand industrial enterprises, 18 thousand medical institutions, almost 33 thousand schools, technical schools, universities were turned into ruins. Of the pre-war number of industrial enterprises in Ukraine, only 19% remained. Ceased to exist about 30 thousand collective farms, state farms, MTS. More than 40 thousand of the most valuable works of art, historical relics and collections were also taken out.

Before Putin, no one in the USSR and Russia could even think about insulting the Ukrainians, ignoring the contribution of this people in the victory over fascism. In 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia could have won the Great Patriotic War on its own without the help of Ukraine. “We would have won anyway, because we are a country of winners,” he said. Then he added that what was said does not detract from “the importance that the republics of the former Soviet Union played in the overall victory.” But what Putin said remained in history. Four years later , in 2014, Putin secretly landed a military landing on the Crimean peninsula, this began the occupation of Ukrainian land, which led to a full-scale war in 2022.

Considering all this, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on May 3 adopted a statement on the inadmissibility of Russia's monopolization of the victory over Nazism in World War II.

Ukrainian deputies say that Russia is distorting historical events and is trying to appropriate merit in the victory over Hitler.

The victory became "a common achievement of the Anti-Hitler coalition and liberation movements, and the war itself - a common tragedy of the peoples of the world," the statement says.

Azerbaijan is not on the Russian list of countries victorious over fascism

If Putin says that Russia would have won without Ukraine, what does he care about Azerbaijan's contribution to the victory with its 3 million 274 thousand inhabitants in 1940.

In 1941-1945, 681 thousand people went to the front from Azerbaijan, including 10 thousand women, or every fifth inhabitant of the 3.4 million republic. About 350 thousand did not return,  the encyclopedic reference book "Turkic peoples" reports. 51% of those who went to the front died.

The 77th, 223rd, 271st, 402nd and 416th national Azerbaijani divisions have been formed in the Azerbaijan SSR.

Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Azerbaijan SSR was the main supplier of oil and oil products, specialists in the oil industry, and the main manufacturer of oil equipment. During the war, Azerbaijani oilmen produced up to 90% of the country's fuel. 75 million tons of oil were sent for military needs.

Of the 17 million tons of oil products consumed during the war years, 13 million were produced in Azerbaijan. It accounted for about 85% of aviation gasoline production. More than 1 million tons of B-78 high-octane gasoline were delivered to the front. From Baku, by sea and further by rail, oil and oil products were delivered to oil depots and from there to refineries in various regions of the country. The Soviet combat vehicle was set in motion by 75-80% thanks to the labor of the people of Baku.

To provide the army, a large amount of food, uniforms, shoes and other types of goods was required. During the first period of the Great Patriotic War, light industry enterprises of Azerbaijan mastered the production of about 30 types of goods for the needs of the Red Army.

More than 130 types of weapons and ammunition were produced in the Azerbaijan SSR, among them the Shpagin submachine gun, shells for rocket launchers, Yak-3 and UTI-4 fighter planes.

There were 41 military hospitals in Baku with 31,400 beds. The hospitals of the Azerbaijan SSR returned to service one and a half million Soviet soldiers and officers.

In modern Russia, the contribution of Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis and other peoples to the victory over Germany is forgotten. They prefer not to mention it. Moreover, two deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation - Mikhail Delyagin and the first deputy chairman of the defense committee Alexander Sherin, proposed the use of military force against Azerbaijan, and with the use of nuclear weapons. The leaders of the Duma of the Russian Federation did not express a negative attitude towards the statements of the deputies, thereby confirming their agreement with silence.