Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals are “mirroring” the fascism and tyranny of Hitler’s Nazis — and must meet the same doomed fate, the UK’s defense minister said Monday.
Ben Wallace, the UK equivalent of the US secretary of state, made the comparison while decrying the “absurdity” of the bombastic Victory Day parade in Moscow Monday in which Putin claimed he was defending his “Motherland” from Nazis.
“Through the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and his inner circle of generals are now mirroring fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the errors of the last century’s totalitarian regime,” Wallace said.
“Their fate must also, surely, eventually, be the same,” he said, evoking how Hitler’s Nazis ended World War II either dead or facing the Nuremberg trials for their atrocities.
Wallace, himself a former soldier, accused Russian generals of “being utterly complicit in Putin’s hijacking of their forebears’ proud history of defending against a ruthless invasion” and “repelling fascism.”
“For them and for Putin, there can be no victory day, only dishonor and surely defeat in Ukraine.”
He also said that “all professional soldiers should be appalled at the behavior of the Russian army.”
“Not only are they engaged in an illegal invasion and war crimes, but their top brass have failed their own rank and file to the extent they should be court-martialled,” he said.
Wallace also re-tweeted a high-production video Ukraine shared early Monday of President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing a new victory for his nation just like that against Nazi Germany 77 years earlier.
“We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II,” Zelensky said.
“We won then, we will win now, too,″ he said, promising that “soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine.”
With Post wires
,
