Thank you.
Judy: Today in Moscow and Kyiv,
two countries at war fought over
the meaning of what used to be a
shared holiday, victory day,
when Russia, Ukraine, and all
the former soviet states
celebrate the defeat of Nazi
Germany.
But this year, the Kremlin
compared Ukrainians to Nazis,
and Ukrainians compared Russian
actions to Nazi war crimes.
Nick schifrin begins our
coverage.
♪♪
Nick: They filled Moscow's
streets by the tens of
thousands.
Russians, remembering family
killed during World War II,
mobilized by a leader leveraging
an 80-year-old victory to
justify today's war.
With pomp, circumstance, and a
show of military might, Russian
president Vladimir Putin likened
the red army's fight against the
Nazis to Russia's invasion of
Ukraine.
>> You are fighting for the
motherland, for its future, so
that no one forgets the lessons
of World War II, so that there
is no place in the world for
executioners, castigators, and
Nazis.
Nick: Putin did not escalate the
war, or declare victory.
Instead, he once again inflated
western pre-war support for
Ukraine as his reason to wage
war.
>> We saw how the military
infrastructure was being
developed, how hundreds of
foreign advisers began to work.
There were regular deliveries of
the most modern weapons from
nato countries.
The danger grew every day.
Russia has preemptively repulsed
an aggression.
It was a forced, timely, and the
only correct, decision.
Nick: Ukraine's rebuttal,
uploaded online.
On the street where Kyiv usually
hosts its Independence day
parade --
>> [Speaking Ukrainian]
Nick: President volodymyr
zelenskyy walked past
barricades, and compared an
unnamed Putin to hitler.
>> Someone is fighting for the
tsar, the Fuhrer, and we are
fighting for our freedom.
So that the victory of our
ancestors was not in vain.
The one who is repeating the
horrific crimes of hitler's
regime today, he is doomed.
Because he was cursed by
millions of ancestors when he
began to imitate their killer.
Therefore, he will lose
everything.
And very soon, there will be two
victory days in Ukraine.
And someone will not have even
one left.
We won then. We will win now,
too.
Nick: The soviet army, turning
--
>> The soviet army, turning the
Nazi six-month assault into the
most ghastly military disaster
in German history.
Nick: Ukraine and Russia shared
sacrifices in World War II.
20 million soviets died, and
across Ukraine, Nazis committed
war crimes.
But in kharkiv's World War II
memorial today, the only
heartbeats allowed were recorded
in the past, and piped in by
speaker.
The memorial was closed by
kharkiv mayor ihor terekhov,
whose father was a soviet
soldier.
>> Ukraine was entirely occupied
by Nazi Germany, and Ukraine was
liberated with the help of our
allies, the United States, great
Britain, the whole world
liberated us from the Nazis and
fascists.
And today, history is repeating
itself.
The United States, great
Britain, they're all providing
us with weapons.
>> Well, welcome, folks.
Nick: Today in the U.S.,
president Biden signed the
Ukraine democracy defense
lend-lease act.
It borrows the name of U.S.
Support to allies during world
War II, and makes it easier to
arm Ukraine.
>> With Putin's war once more
bringing wanton destruction to
Europe, to reaffirm the enduring
commitment to the future
grounded in democracy, human
rights, and peaceful resolution
to disagreements, I'm now going
to sign this bill.
Nick: But at a European meeting
in France today, president
Emmanuel macron ended Ukraine's
hope to join the European union
quickly, and said Russia's
priorities needed to be
considered.
>> The terms of the discussion
and negotiation will be
established by Ukraine and
Russia.
It won't happen by ignoring or
excluding one or the other.
Nick: Back in Ukraine, Russia
continues to bombard, and try to
storm, mariupol's azovstal steel
plant, the city's last holdout.
For 2 months, hundreds of
civilians have been hiding
underneath azovstal, with no
light or fresh air, and little
food and water.
In the last 10 days, the U.N.
And icrc have escorted three
convoys of families out of
azovstal.
U.N. Resident humanitarian
coordinator osnat lubrani
traveled with those convoys to
the ukrainian-held town
zaporizhia, where we sat down
today.
The people who you've evacuated
with, what are the conditions
they faced?
>> People that are, have
undergone trauma, living in, you
know, conditions that's
difficult to imagine, in a
bunker. They haven't seen the
sky.
They haven't, you know, they had
limited food and and incessant
shelling all the time.
So bringing them out, the
process of moving them was also
not easy.
There is presently, by the the
entities that are in control of
these areas, a requirement to go
through a screening process.
We were present with them
throughout that process, which
was very lengthy and intensive,
and for people, particularly the
ones from azovstal who have just
come in, putting pressure on
people that already have gone
through a difficult time, and
very scary, I think, for all of
them.
I think that's where our
presence with those vulnerable
people that had just come out of
a difficult situation was was
very important. And it was, you
know, protection by presence,
being there.
Nick: We're talking about
screening by Russian forces.
What are the Russians making the
people who are leaving mariupol
go through in that screening
process?
>> I think there are a lot of
probing questions, it's very
lengthy and very comprehensive
and very intense.
Nick: Is it unfair?
>> It was putting people under
duress, but there was no actual
abuse or, you know, to the
extent that, that's why we were
there, there was no --
Nick: To ensure there was no
abuse.
>> Yes, exactly.
Nick: What are the conditions
that the people who remain in
mariupol face?
>> Right now mariupol is, you
know, very much destroyed.
In terms of access to food and
basic services and, you know,
these are literally, you know,
not there.
I'm hoping that we can also be
there for the people that are
living in a very, very dire
conditions.
There is Russian presence, but
there is also the presence of
other entities that are now sort
of controlling people's daily
lives.
In this regard, I want to say
that the U.N. Does have a
presence for many years in
donetsk and luhansk. We have,
you know, in terms of, on the
basis of humanitarian
principles, been able to engage
with all of these entities on
access, on bringing humanitarian
aid. So I hope that those same,
you know, arrangements can be
worked out.
Nick: It sounds like you're
making a pitch to the
pro-Russian separatists who
you've been dealing with for
many years in the self-declared
independent republics in donetsk
and luhansk, who are now in
mariupol. The pitch is that you
can work with them inside
>> I think yes, that's that's
the pitch.
Nick: As part of the evacuation
efforts, have families from
mariupol been separated?
>> People have ended up in
different situation. Uh, and --
>> [Air raid sirens]
Nick: Air raid sirens in the
distance.
>> Yes.
There have been instances of
family separation.
There were several instances
where people were detained
because they were considered,
they were found either under
investigation or were detained
because they were considered
involved, as, you know --
Nick: Meaning former soldiers.
>> Yes.
Nick: Or former police.
>> Yes. And that that was that
involved separation of those
people from family members, some
children.
Nick: From children.
>> Sometimes children and and
siblings, but in all of those
instances, we we will be
following up.
Nick: Osnat lubrani, thank you
very much.
>> Thank you.
Judy: And a note, our coverage
of the war in Ukraine is
supported in partnership with
the pulitzer center.