Warmonger Vladimir Putin promised his people “victory will be ours” as it was against Adolf Hitler ’s Nazis, ahead of Russia ’s huge Victory Day celebrations on Monday.
The public holiday is seen as one of the nation’s most important during the year, with a number of events due to take place on May 9.
To remember the sacrifices of the people from the then Soviet Union - made up of Russia, Ukraine and other countries- against Hitler, Putin is due to give a speech in Red Square, Moscow.
Today he doubled down on his bizarre justification of his brutal invasion of Ukraine to “denazify” their peaceful neighbour, claiming Russia will be victorious.
The president said: “Today, our soldiers, as their ancestors, are fighting side by side to liberate their native land from the Nazi filth with the confidence that, as in 1945, victory will be ours.”
The Soviet Union lost 27 milion people in the Second World War, more than any other country.
Other events due to be held on Victory Day include a flypast of supersonic fighters and bombers, as well as the “doomsday” command plane which would carry Russia’s leaders in the event of a nuclear war.
Around 11,000 troops are set to march through Red Square.
During last year’s May 9 address, Putin attacked what he described as the rise of neo-Nazism and Russophobia.
There are fears he could officially declare all-out war on Ukraine, which the Kremlin currently calls a “special operation.”
Meanwhile, in a video address to his people, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his country is now fighting a “bloody re-enactment” of Nazism.
He said: “Darkness has returned to Ukraine decades after World War Two...the evil has returned.
"In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose.
“No evil can escape responsibility, it cannot hide in a bunker.
“A bloody re-enactment of Nazism has been staged. A fanatical imitation of this regime. Its ideas, actions, words and symbols.
“We will overcome everything. And we know this for sure, because our military and all our people are descendants of those who overcame Nazism.”
It comes as the US First Lady, Jill Biden, made a surprise visit to Ukraine earlier today to meet Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelenska.
Mrs Biden said: “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day.
“I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”
Her husband has yet to visit Ukraine since the start of the invasion in February.
