May 9, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his accusation that the West left him no choice but to invade Ukraine in a speech given during Russia's Victory Day parade, an annual commemoration of the country's defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War Two. The speech provided little detail on how Russia planned to proceed in Ukraine; it followed days of speculation that Putin would use the event to announce to make a major announcement.

Here are some of the latest developments:

Social media videos uploaded by pro-Russian media have shown parades and ceremonies in several Russian-occupied Ukrainian towns to mark Victory Day.

A procession in the town of Enerhodar, in Zaporizhzhia, which has been in Russian hands since the beginning of March, appears to have been attended by several hundred people.

Another rally in Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region, filmed by state Russian outlet RIA Novosti, appears to have been thinly attended.

The official media outlet of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic reported on a rally in Kherson city, saying: "Citizens came in families, carrying portraits of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought during the Great Patriotic War and who liberated Kherson region from fascists."

There was also a rally in Berdiansk and events in several other towns. None appear to have been attended by more than a few dozen people, according to videos uploaded by the separatist Donetsk channel PRO Republic.

At one event, a few people were seen sitting in a square as Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech was broadcast on large screens.

Russian forces have fired four Onyx cruise missiles at the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, according to the spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, Serhiy Bratchuk.

"The missiles arrived from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea," he said. Russian forces illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Bratchuk provided no details of where the missiles had struck.

Ukraine's Black Sea coast has seen a significant uptick in missile attacks by Russian forces in recent days.

Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare, described this year's Victory Day parade in Moscow as a "very low key" affair.

The commemoration saw thousands of troops assemble outside the Kremlin in the Red Square and Russia's President Vladimir Putin reiterate his reasons for invading Ukraine. But the expected air portion of the annual event was canceled due to weather, a Kremlin official said.

Ukrainian officials have commented on the apparently muted commemoration of Victory Day in occupied Mariupol.

An adviser to the Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, said there had been no parade but that flowers were laid at a memorial recently refurbished by Russian-backed separatists.

The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, lit the eternal flame in Mariupol to mark Victory Day, according to video released by the DPR Telegram channel "PRO_Republic."

Separately, the Mariupol city council said: "The occupiers celebrate Victory Day on the bones of Mariupol residents. Hundreds of citizens killed by the Russian army continue to be taken to the mass grave near the village of Vynohradne."

CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson noted that there was "little" to read into how Russia plans to go forward in Ukraine following President Vladimir Putin's speech at Monday's Victory Day parade in Moscow.

"I was struck by the way that he referred at least to the battlezone... as Donbas, rather than the whole of Ukraine," he said. He added that the speech provided no sense that Russia was backing down from the fight.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his Victory Day speech in Moscow on Monday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky released his own video message.

"We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II, which killed more than eight million Ukrainians. Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine. And someone won't have any.

"We won then. We will win now. Happy Victory over Nazism Day!"

Pro-Russian social media accounts have begun circulating video shot in the Kherson region of Ukraine on Monday showing celebrations of Victory Day.

The events appear to have drawn small crowds waving red flags and carrying flowers.

Ukrainian activists in Kherson have claimed that Russia has brought in people from Crimea to bolster the numbers attending.

Russian state media have been quick to report on Victory Day celebrations in occupied parts of Ukraine.

State-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that in Kherson, a procession in memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War was taking place for the first time.

Vladimir Saldo, the head of the city administration, congratulated residents who gathered in the Park of Glory with portraits of their relatives who participated in the war, the news agency said.

People with Russian flags and a large banner with the inscription "Immortal Regiment" are walking from the park through the streets of the city, according to RIA Novosti.

The videos available so far suggest a modest turnout for the rally.

On Monday, Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy chairman of the region's military-civilian administration, told RIA Novosti that the Kherson region would strive for integration with Russia.

In a speech marking Russia's Victory Day on Monday, President Vladimir Putin sought to link his country's struggle against Nazi Germany in World War Two with his invasion of Ukraine and baselessly claimed the West had given him no choice.

Putin said the intervention in Ukraine was necessary as the West was creating "threats next to our borders" and "preparing for the invasion of our land." 

He also said the West didn't want to hear Russia's proposals for dialogue.

"NATO countries did not want to hear us," Putin said, adding that that means "they had very different plans and we could see that."

"Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression -- it was a forced and sovereign decision," he said.

Putin told troops that "today you are defending what your grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for."

He also addressed the soldiers of Donbas" who "together with Russian soldiers" are fighting for the "motherland." Donbas, a sprawling heartland region that blankets much of eastern Ukraine, has been the front line of Ukraine's conflict with Russia since 2014.

Fighting has intensified in the region in recent weeks as Putin refocused his war strategy following stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces.

"I address the servicemen of Donbas," Putin said in the speech. "You are fighting for the motherland, for its future, so that lessons of World War Two are not forgotten," he said, adding, "there is no place in history for the punitive divisions of Nazis."

"We bow our heads in the memory of our comrades in arms who died in the just struggle for Russia," he said. 

After those remarks, a moment of silence followed. 

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