Russia's Red Square military parade, slow progress in the Russian-Ukrainian war

Today is Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War of Russia. Regarding the speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver when he attends the military parade on Red Square, as well as the recent reports of the Russian-Ukrainian war, they are also linked as much as possible to the military achievements that Russia “hopes” to show on the 9th. According to Russian media reports, the Russian army has controlled most of the city of Popasnaya in the western Luhansk region, which is a key point of Ukraine's defense system. But on other battlefields, the situation remains complicated. As of the 8th, the offensive and defensive battle of the Azov Steel Plant has not ended, but the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the 7th that the humanitarian work to evacuate the civilians of the plant has ended.

Just on the 8th, the US First Lady Jill Biden made a “surprise visit” to the western city of Uzhhorod, which was seen as putting pressure on Russia and expressing support for Ukraine. On the same day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv to attend the reopening ceremony of the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine.

On the 6th local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech by video at a conference organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Zelensky said that all diplomatic channels for communication with Russia have been interrupted, but in order to resume normal negotiations, Russia first needs to return to the zone of control before February 24.

G7 leaders said they would work to eliminate their dependence on Russian energy in stages, including phasing out or banning imports of Russian oil and giving the world time to obtain alternative supplies. G7 leaders will also pledge to take steps to ban or otherwise block the delivery of critical services to Russia on which they depend. On the 8th local time, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against Russia worth 1.7 billion pounds, including a substantial increase in tariffs on Russian imports worth 1.4 billion pounds (including tariffs on imports of platinum and palladium from Russia and Belarus), as well as a ban Exports to the country worth £250 million a year.