UKRAINE UPDATES: School bombing, Victory Day parade, Severodonetsk surrounded

Ahead of Victory Day, a school bombing in east Ukraine claimed the lives of 60 civilians. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struggle to hold on to Severodonetsk.

The ongoing conflict involving Russia and Ukraine – with Russian President Vladimir Putin launching a full-scale invasion on 24 February – stems back to the 1950s with the transfer of Crimea.

Now in 2022, President Vladimir Putin questioned Ukraine’s right to statehood and accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) of threatening Russia’s security.

Russia-Ukraine war: 9 May 2022

School bombing, Severodonetsk surrounded

As Russia readies for its annual Victory Day Parade, Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold on to the nearly surrounded city of Severodonetsk.

If the easternmost city is captured, Russia would have de facto control of Lugansk – the smaller of the two republics comprising the eastern war zone.

Meanwhile, some 60 people sheltering in a village school in east Ukraine died after a Russian airstrike, President Zelensky said during an address to the G7 summit.

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Victory Day

Russia will celebrate its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany Monday with a show of military might as its army battles Kyiv’s forces in the east of Ukraine.

The parade is a longtime tradition in Russia, but this year’s celebration has taken on great prominence as Putin seeks to justify a war that has gone on far longer.

Putin has sought to legitimise the invasion by comparing it with the previous struggle against Nazism and the national pride it brought.

“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,” Putin said.

Putin allies can’t decide between UK and US

Russian presenter, propagandist and Rossiya-1 talk show host Vladimir Solovyov promoted the idea of President Putin attacking the United Kingdom in retaliation for its support of Ukraine.

“What is preventing us from striking the territory of the United Kingdom, targeting those logistical centres where these arms are being loaded”, he asked.

Andrey Sidorov, the dean of world politics at Moscow State University, said it would be better to “strike the United States”, because final decisions are made in Washington, not London.

“If we want to hit the real centre of the West, then we need to strike Washington”, he said.

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History of the war

The invasion of Ukraine – said to be the largest military attack in Europe since World War II – is an escalation of the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian war, when the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity (Maidan Revolution) ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

The transfer from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), at the time described as a symbolic gesture, led to the re-establishment of Crimean autonomy in the early 1990s.

Then in 2014, the focus was once again on Crimea and parts of Donbas during the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, resulting in the regions being internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

At the time, the Euromaidan protests resulted in the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February 2014.

In response, Russian soldiers surrounded and seized control of Crimea, defying the referendum of 1991.

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Uprisings in Donbas turned into a full-blown war to control Donetsk and Luhansk. A stalemate eventually ensued after repeated failed attempts at a cease-fire.

After marathon talks between US and Chinese officials, Washington also expressed concern about “alignment” between Russia and China.

The discussions come after reports Moscow is seeking military and economic support from Beijing. While declining to address the reports directly, China accused Washington of spreading “disinformation” about its role in the conflict.

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