The US warning to Americans in Russia 0:36
(CNN) --
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech during Moscow's annual Victory Day parade, telling troops that "today you are defending what your grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for."
"Our duty is to do everything possible so that the horror of a global war does not happen again," he said.
Putin said the intervention in Ukraine was necessary because the West was creating "threats along our borders" and "preparing for the invasion of our land."
He also said that the West did not want to listen to Russia's proposals for dialogue.
"NATO countries did not want to listen to us," Putin said.
And he added that means "they had very different plans and we got to see it."
Members of the Russian Army take part in a Victory Day military parade, marking the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, on Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9. .
(Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
"Russia exercised a preventive rejection of the aggression, it was a forced and sovereign decision," he said.
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"Very Discreet"
CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson noted there was "little" to read about how Russia plans to move forward in Ukraine following Putin's speech.
"I was struck by the way he referred to at least the battle zone...as Donbas, rather than the whole of Ukraine," he said.
He added that the speech provided no sense that Russia was backing down from the fight.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in ground warfare, described this year's Victory Day parade in Moscow as a "very low-key" affair.
At the commemoration, thousands of troops gathered outside the Kremlin in Red Square and Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his reasons for invading Ukraine.
But the expected aerial portion of the annual event has been canceled due to weather, a Kremlin official said.
"Very low-key," Drummond, a former British Army officer, told CNN of the parade. "But there was a discipline and precision that was absent last time. Look of steely determination on many faces. It suggests that Putin has consolidated his base of power instead of being weakened by recent events.
"We will win," says Zelensky in his own Victory Day message
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posts a video message on May 9.
(President of Ukraine)
As Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his Victory Day speech in Moscow on Monday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky released his own video message.
"We are fighting for the freedom of our children, and therefore we will win," Zelensky said.
“We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II, which left more than eight million Ukrainians dead.
Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine.
And someone will have none.
"We won then. We will win now. Happy Victory over Nazism Day!"
Vladimir Putin
