In the end, what stood out about Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech during Victory Day ceremonies was what he did not say.

He did not announce a general mobilization for a comprehensive war against Ukraine.

He did not declare victory in the war, which is now in its 75th day, reports europaelire.

He made no threat to the use of Russia's nuclear arsenal, something he and other officials have consistently done in recent weeks.

He mentioned the Nazis, but not "denazification," which was one of the Kremlin's stated goals for the war in Ukraine.

He did not even make a general call to join the army, to unite the Russian population for great sacrifices in, or because of, the war.

To observers close to Putin's presidency, his May 9 speech was expected to be one of the most important in his 22 years as Russia's leader - a warning of more war, or perhaps peace, to come. .

If there were such big statements, Victory Day - a sacred holiday for millions of people in Russia and coming at a time when Putin is in the spotlight - would be the possible date for such a thing.

As in previous Victory Day speeches, Putin honored the millions of Soviet citizens who died fighting Nazi Germany.

As in some previous speeches, but not all, he used this speech to attack the United States.

As the Kremlin waged the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, many observers sought to analyze the details of how Putin would portray the war in Ukraine, which by all accounts - except for his opinion and some others - it is not going well for Russia.

In the end, the 12-minute speech offered little or no clarity.

Also, this speech offered no change of transformational policy in the biggest foreign policy crisis, under Putin's leadership.

"My first reaction is that he is making long-term plans, but he is waiting to go through the same problems as after the annexation of Crimea, but taking territories in southern Ukraine," said Vladislav Zubok, a Russian Cold War expert. , who is also a professor at the London School of Economics.

He referred to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the takeover of parts of southern Ukraine since Russia began occupying the neighboring country on February 24.

"One more option is possible: with the iron curtain around Russia being built by strong Western sanctions, Putin has secured his regime and he will be happy with it for years to come," Zubok said.

"After all, he is almost 70 years old.

"However, this option presupposes a completely cold and cynical leader, whose rhetoric about sacrifice and victory is just a big 'blah-blah'," he added.

The annual parade included the usual participation of hundreds of soldiers, Marines and other military personnel, who marched near the Kremlin as the sound of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as parades, could be heard.

Surprisingly, this year there was no air parade of bombers, fighter jets and helicopters, which in previous years flew over the skies of Moscow, and which for many people represented the key point of the parade.

The absence of such a parade is not necessarily indicative of any major event, although the cancellation of the air parade was announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, minutes before the ceremonies began.

He said there will be no air parade due to atmospheric conditions.

Putin's speech had important elements of World War II mythology, the memories of which have been distorted, as some Russian observers argue, or as Kremlin critic Yulia Latynina describes it as a "cult of victory."

"This cult of war has nothing to do with the true history of World War II," she said.

"It is a cult of young Russian totalitarianism, whose ideology is very simple."

Nearly 27 million Soviet citizens died during the four-year war with Nazi Germany.

Putin honored the citizens killed in the war.

"Victory Day is an important day for all of us.

There is no family in Russia that has not been affected by the Great Patriotic War.

"The memory of him will never fade," he said during his speech.

In contrast, Russia's losses in the war in Ukraine have been kept hidden from the public.

March 27 was the last time the Ministry of Defense released official death tolls, and the number presented - 1,351 dead - is only a fraction of what Ukrainian and Western officials say is the actual number of casualties. which is estimated to be more than 15,000 Russian soldiers killed.

On the battlefield in Ukraine, in the early days of the occupation, Russian forces stalled in their advance, failing to take control of Kiev or other major cities, before recalibrating themselves, moving troops to an offensive in the eastern region of Donbasit.

The offensive in Donbas is still underway, but there are few signals that any major victory has been achieved for Russian troops.

Even the port city of Mariupol, which Russian commanders have made a priority due to its strategic location and other reasons, was expected to be taken over weeks ago, but who has control of the city still remains a contentious issue, despite that Putin on April 21 declared victory in Mariupol.

During his speech on May 9, he did not mention Mariupol or any other territory that Russia has occupied.

"My interpretation is that this was an unusable issue, because almost anything he would do would be difficult," said Andrew Wood, the former British ambassador to Russia.

"There is no triumph, for example, in Mariupol.

"In fact, I do not think he knows what to do."

"It's a feeling that something is wrong and they have no idea how to fix it.

"This is how I think about this issue," he told Radio Free Europe.

A growing number of Western military experts say the high death toll among Russian troops, as well as the high rate of equipment loss, pose a major obstacle to any claim to a decisive victory, which is a significant problem of which can only be solved by involving a larger number of troops in the war.

This means either calling the reservists or sending relatively young and inexperienced recruits to the war or, in the most extreme case, announcing a general mobilization, a mass mobilization of society.

Some observers have speculated that Putin could do just that, using the symbolism of the Great Patriotic War, often referred to in Russia as World War II.

This did not happen, presumably because it would involve a declaration of war, something the Kremlin has refused to call the invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, Russia uses the phrase "special military operation" to refer to the invasion of Ukraine.

"Putin once shone in attitudes, manipulations and bluffs, and he seems lost in the management of a real war, which is entirely driven by him," said Pavel Baev, a political professor and researcher at the Oslo Peace Research Institute.

"Even calling the war by its real name, which might be logical in the context of its connection to [the Great Patriotic War], is a very distant step for it."

"The announcement, even of a partial mobilization, would mean accepting a heavier responsibility than the execution of the 'special operation', and his empty speech would mean a major leadership failure, which is especially evident compared to "Zelensky's extraordinary performance," Baev said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In addition to honoring Soviet heroism and the losses experienced 77 years ago, Putin also reiterated earlier positions:

He criticized the West, NATO and the United States in particular, accusing them of "humiliating not only the whole world, but also its satellites, who must claim to have noticed nothing and gently swallow it." everything".

Just as Soviet forces helped defeat Nazism in Europe, he said, Russian forces were forced to act against Ukraine "to prevent aggression" by what he described as neo-Nazis and Western-backed "gangs."

The latter term has been used as an offensive term by Russian officials for Ukrainians, and is a reference to the 20th century Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.

"Everything was an indication that a clash with the neo-Nazis, with the banners, who rely on the US and its smaller partners, would be inevitable," he said.

Kiev, Western governments and Kremlin critics say Putin's attempts to justify the occupation, saying it was a precautionary measure, are completely baseless.

Officials have repeatedly argued that neither Ukraine nor NATO has planned to attack Russia, and that Putin's attempts to compare Ukrainians or their leaders to the Nazis are baseless and absurd.

In a speech shortly after the Russian president, British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace, said that Putin and his generals were "reflecting the fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the mistakes of the totalitarian regime of the last century."

Speaking of the neo-Nazis, Putin made no statement about the "denazification" of Ukraine, something he had set as his primary goal when he announced the start of the occupation on February 24.

According to Dmitry Oreshkin, a Moscow-based political scientist, Putin was not expected to declare war or call for a general mobilization, stressing that taking one of these two decisions would tarnish his image and call into question the management of the war. .

"If you start a war, then it means that you are accepting that the special operation did not end, or ended with nothing, or turned out to be insufficient.

"In one way or another, such a thing would be perceived as a defect," Oreshkin told Current Time.

"And if you announce mobilization, it's still the same thing," he said.

"This means [that Russia and its army] did not have enough strength, that Ukraine put up a strong and sudden resistance, and we now have to call in new people, recruit new power."

So declaring war or ordering a mobilization would be acceptance of defeat, he said.

But the thing that was missing in Putin's speech, and what is perhaps most significant, is that: Putin also did not declare victory.