Vladimir Putin has vowed to claim full victory in illegally incorporating Ukrainian regions into Russia, insisting that ‘nothing and no-one’ will stop him.
The Russian president, who turns 71 next week, declared September 30 ‘Reunification Day’ – one year since Moscow formally claimed the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as its own.
Putin addressed his people as Ukraine staged a kamikaze drone strike which knocked out power for a swathe of Russian border region Bryansk.
An electricity substation went up in flames after an explosion when the drone hit near the village of Pogar.
As other explosions hit in the area of administrative buildings, regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, confirmed ‘the power supply was disrupted’.
Putin marked the anniversary of the day he illegally incorporated the so-called the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics into Russia along with parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, which he hailed as ‘a defining and truly historic event’.
All are legally part of a sovereign Ukraine under international law.
Putin said he acted to restore ‘something every person values, namely culture, traditions, and mother tongue’ among mainly Russian-speaking people.
This was ‘everything that was loathed by nationalists and their Western patrons who orchestrated a coup in Kyiv in 2014 and then unleashed a full-scale civil war and terror against dissenters and organised blockades, constant shelling, and punitive actions in Donbas’.
Seeking to justify his war, he vowed: ‘Nothing and no-one can break the will of millions of people, or their belief in truth and historical justice.
‘The free and unequivocal choice of our brothers and sisters was wholeheartedly supported by the Russian people.
‘We understood and deeply felt the most important thing: by defending our compatriots in Donbas and Novorossiya, we are defending Russia itself.
‘Together, we are fighting for the Motherland, for our sovereignty, spiritual values, unity, and victory.
‘I thank all the citizens of the country for this solidarity and patriotism.’
Despite plunging Russia and Ukraine into a debilitating 19-month war in which hundreds of thousands have perished, the dictator claimed he was ‘building our common future together, rebuilding and building schools and hospitals, housing and roads, museums and memorial sites’.
Putin thanked people in the newly-grabbed regions ‘for preserving and passing on your love for the Fatherland to your children despite all the trials’.
He claimed: ‘Thanks to you, your fortitude and determination, Russia has become even stronger.
‘We are one people, and together we can overcome anything and meet any challenge.’
In Moscow’s Red Square on Friday night, flag-waving Russians gathered for a concert as the Kremlin held celebrations to mark one year since it claimed to annex four Ukrainian regions.
Since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine last year, authorities have routinely held concerts and events to drum up support for what the Kremlin calls a ‘special military operation’.
A large crowd, some of them singing, could be seen gathering in Red Square near a stage and large screens which read: ‘One Country, One Family, One Russia’.
There were children, families and elderly people, some of whom queued in long lines for ice cream and took pictures.
‘Exactly one year ago, historical justice prevailed,’ one of the presenters told the audience, as the crowd chanted ‘Russia’.
‘Russia does not abandon its own. We are one country,’ he said.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared September 30 ‘Reunification Day’ – one year since Moscow formally claimed the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as its own.
Putin is not expected to attend the concert, the Kremlin said.
Moscow has repeatedly cast its soldiers as heroes battling for Russia’s existence in the face of Western aggression and ‘Nazism’.
Moscow held elections in the four regions this month, but does not fully control any of them and is currently battling a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
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