
Germany’s foreign minister has urged people to stand up for peace, freedom and democracy, on the day much of Europe celebrates VE Day, marking the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi German in World War Two.
Ahead of a planned visit to Ukraine, Annalena Baerbock said VE Day reminded Germans never again to be on the wrong side of the struggle for freedom and humanity.
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave an emotional Victory Day speech, saying that “evil has returned” to Ukraine, but Russia would not escape responsibility.
Russia will celebrate victory in WW2 on Monday, with the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow a centrepiece.
President Vladimir Putin sent messages to a number of pro-Russian leaders and their citizens on Sunday, as well the peoples of Georgia and Ukraine.
In his message to “the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and citizens of Ukraine”, Putin stressed “the unacceptability of revenge on the part of the ideological followers of those who were defeated”.
He said it was the “common duty” of Russia, and her allies, “to prevent the revival of Nazism, which brought so much suffering to the people of different countries”.
One of President Putin’s justifications for his invasion of Ukraine is that he wants to – in his words – “denazify” the country.
BBC News