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Putin attends Victory Day parade amid temporary Russia-Ukraine ceasefire · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Russia is marking its biggest national holiday. Victory Day, celebrates
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the defeat of Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
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  Speaker 1: It is usually a patriotic spectacle showing off Russia's military
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  Speaker 1: strength and power, but this year things look very different,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: with a scaled back parade in Red Square. There is
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: no dazzling display of military hardware in the Moscow parade
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  Speaker 1: for the first time in nearly two decades. There are
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  Speaker 1: also fewer foreign leaders and then in previous years, and
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  Speaker 1: most international press have been barred from the event because
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of heightened security concerns. Ahead of the celebrations, Russia and
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  Speaker 1: Ukraine agreed to a three day ceasefire and to swap
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  Speaker 1: one thousand prisoners each. That was announced by US President
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. The CBC's Julia Chapman is covering this story
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  Speaker 1: for US this morning from London. Julia, let's start with
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  Speaker 1: this year's Victory Day celebrates looking very different this time around.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, Marianne. Victory Day celebrations in Moscow are
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  Speaker 2: really Russia's annual projection of power, both to a domestic
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  Speaker 2: audience but also internationally, and it is a really major
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  Speaker 2: national holiday in Russia. For many Russians. The highlight for
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  Speaker 2: the past few years has been the military hardware going
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  Speaker 2: through central Moscow onto Red Squares, the tanks, the ballistic
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  Speaker 2: missiles being shown to the nation and the world. Those
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  Speaker 2: were absent this year because the authorities say there was
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  Speaker 2: a terrorist threat from Ukraine. Ukrainian drones have been reaching
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  Speaker 2: further deeper into Russia. They've become more accurate as the
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  Speaker 2: course of the war has gone on, and so there
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  Speaker 2: has been a nervousness in Moscow that the proceedings today
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  Speaker 2: could have been affected. There's been really high security. There
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  Speaker 2: have been really severe restrictions on internet usage in Moscow
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  Speaker 2: and in Saint Petersburg. Despite all of those those, Jisher's
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  Speaker 2: president Vladimir Putin was still pretty combative in his speech
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  Speaker 2: on Red Square. He said that Russia will be victorious,
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  Speaker 2: and he said that Russian soldiers are resisting what he
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  Speaker 2: called an aggressive force backed by NATO.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk more about the ceasefire. As we mentioned, it
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  Speaker 1: is now in place a three day seas fire between
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  Speaker 1: Russia and Ukraine. Is there a chance that it could
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  Speaker 1: last even longer?
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  Speaker 3: Well?
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, when he announced this ceasefire, certainly expressed a
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  Speaker 2: hope that it could be what he called the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of the end of the war. And Voladimir Zelenski, the
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  Speaker 2: Ukrainian President, always says that any of these ceasefires that
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  Speaker 2: we have seen from time to time during the war
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  Speaker 2: in Ukraine should be open ended. They should pave the
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  Speaker 2: way for peace negotiations. That hasn't been the language coming
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  Speaker 2: out of the Kremlin today. Yuri Ushikova, a Kremlin aide,
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  Speaker 2: said that this will just be three days. He was
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  Speaker 2: really echoing the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Pskov, who earlier said
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  Speaker 2: that there is still a very long way to go
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  Speaker 2: before any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, despite what
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  Speaker 2: he said was the Americans being in a hurry to
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  Speaker 2: strike a peace deal. Most Kremlin watchers would agree that
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  Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin will end this conflict when he sees a
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  Speaker 2: benefit in doing so. And despite the security concerns that
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  Speaker 2: Russia has had in the past week and more broadly,
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  Speaker 2: there doesn't seem to be any suggestion that it would
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  Speaker 2: be in Vladimir Putin's interest to end this conflict just yet.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for this, Julia. The CBC's Julia Chapman,
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  Speaker 1: reporting in London, so where do things stand right now
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  Speaker 1: between Russia and Ukraine. Michael Bosserk is a senior fellow
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  Speaker 1: at the Atlantic Council and the founder of the World
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  Speaker 1: Briefing Report on Substack. He joins us this morning from
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  Speaker 1: Moldova's capital. Michael, thanks so much for talking to us
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Good to be with you.
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  Speaker 1: So there's the Victory Day parade. We saw the images
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  Speaker 1: of that much more scaled back. What goes through your
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  Speaker 1: mind when you see what it looks like this year
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  Speaker 1: compared to previous years.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, first of all, the reason I'm talking to
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  Speaker 3: you from Kishno, Moldova and not Odessa on my usual
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  Speaker 3: basis because I had to evacuate from Odessa. It's just
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  Speaker 3: become way too safe, so we're watching it from here.
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  Speaker 3: But this clearly reflects a humiliated mister Putin. The war
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  Speaker 3: is not going well. They've lost a lot of men,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of equipment. However, they still have the wherewithal
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  Speaker 3: two pound Ukrainian cities and towns and villages and nuclear
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  Speaker 3: power plants, you name it. But it's amazing, is it not?
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  Speaker 3: That the Ukrainians have managed to instill that much fear
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  Speaker 3: mister Putin? As your correspondent pointed out that he can't
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  Speaker 3: even spend a night reportedly in his own residences. So
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  Speaker 3: and you know, finally on this one, the war is
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  Speaker 3: hitting the average Russian now more than it ever has,
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  Speaker 3: especially in Moscow where a lot of the elites live.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about this fire. Three day seas fire brokeer
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  Speaker 1: by the US between the two countries. It also includes
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  Speaker 1: that one thousand prisoner swamp on each side. What do
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  Speaker 1: you make of the terms of this ceasefire? Do you
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  Speaker 1: think it could last potentially longer?
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  Speaker 3: The prisoner swap is a very good one because I've
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  Speaker 3: watched myselves, mothers and kids, you know, and my don
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  Speaker 3: Square in Kiev protests that their loved ones are missing
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  Speaker 3: or been away for too long. But look, even this,
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  Speaker 3: even though this has the fingerprints of mister Trump. Look,
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  Speaker 3: I've just returned from Armenian and I can tell you
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  Speaker 3: the peace still so called peace still there between Armenian
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  Speaker 3: and Azerbaijan. It's hardly keeping together. Same thing on the
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  Speaker 3: Thai Cambodia border. I think the Russians will do what
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  Speaker 3: they normally do, Miriam, is they'll stretch this out as
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  Speaker 3: long as possible. War of attrition where the Ukrainians down.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, we talk a lot, don't do we
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  Speaker 3: not about the resilience the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people.
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  Speaker 3: But I can tell you walk in the streets of
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  Speaker 3: Odessa day in and day out, it's becoming very very
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  Speaker 3: difficult on the average Ukrainian all of them. All of
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  Speaker 3: them are asking when the war can end, because it's
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  Speaker 3: become very very difficult for them to bear any longer.
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  Speaker 1: When you describe that uncertainty and in some cases hopelessness
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  Speaker 1: for those who are living this every single day. Then
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  Speaker 1: to watch what's unfolding here with this ceasefire, with both
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  Speaker 1: sides accusing each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire,
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  Speaker 1: how much more do you think the Ukrainian people, for instance,
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  Speaker 1: can handle the uncertainty?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, look tomorrow I'm on my way to Edmonton
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  Speaker 3: to give two keynotes, one in Edmonton and one calgar
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  Speaker 3: And my main message there too, decision makers and to
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  Speaker 3: the Ukrainian diasporc community that has helped Ukraine so much
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  Speaker 3: in this battle, is to keep on supporting Ukraine, give
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  Speaker 3: it what it needs. But at the same time, I'm very,
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  Speaker 3: very worried about the demographic displacement, about the closure of
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  Speaker 3: small businesses, about people leaving. It's any economy in the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: world that is subject to such pressures, including fuel price
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  Speaker 3: likes from the Iran or would eventually start not to bend,
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  Speaker 3: but to really feel pressures and show it. So something
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  Speaker 3: needs to be done to alleviate that pressure because I
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  Speaker 3: think we're nearing that point where it's going to be very,
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  Speaker 3: very difficult to return Ukraine back to where it was.
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  Speaker 3: But on a final point, no way can any Ukrainian
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  Speaker 3: president give away territory as the Russians are demanding or
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  Speaker 3: sign on to some of their other maximalist demands. So
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  Speaker 3: countries like Canada really need to support Ukraine to get
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  Speaker 3: it through this difficult period.