Putin uses Stalingrad trip to liken Ukraine to second world war

Vladimir Putin has said Russia is being threatened by German tanks “again” as it was during the second world war, warning that Moscow is ready to respond to aggression from the west.

Speaking at events marking the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad, known today as Volgograd, Putin drew parallels between the Soviet Union’s fight in the second world war and Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

“It’s unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks,” he said in the southern city. “Again and again we are forced to repel the aggression of the collective west.”

“We aren’t sending tanks to their borders but we have something to respond with, and it won’t be just about using armoured vehicles. Everyone should understand this,” Putin added. “A modern war with Russia will be completely different.”

Putin attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the eternal flame in the Hall of Military Glory at the Battle of Stalingrad museum, Volgograd. Photograph: Dmitry Lobakin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/EPA

Since sending troops to pro-western Ukraine last February, Putin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against the west if the conflict escalates.

“Readiness to go until the end, to do the impossible for the sake of the motherland, for the sake of truth was and is in the blood, in the character of our multinational people,” he said.

The 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad raged for nearly six months and when it was over, the city was in ruins and more than a million soldiers and civilians had lost their lives.

The Red Army’s victory marked a turning point not only for the Soviet Union, which had suffered several heavy defeats, but also for the allied forces.

The commemorations in Volgograd come as the Kremlin looks to step up its offensive in Ukraine, bolstered by tens of thousands of army reservists mobilised last autumn.

Russia has claimed recent gains near the hotspot town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Moscow recently announced the capture of the eastern town of Soledar as it seeks to wrest control of the entirety of Donetsk – a region it claims to have annexed. Although the significance of capturing the salt-mining town is disputed, Soledar was the first major victory for Russia’s forces following a series of setbacks on the ground.

Bronze busts of Joseph Stalin (centre) and Soviet marshals Georgy Zhukov (left) and Alexander Vasilevsky (right) were unveiled in Volgograd on the eve of commemorations of the Battle of Stalingrad. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

On the eve of Putin’s arrival, a bust of dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Volgograd. Since Putin took power in Russia in 2000, a growing chorus of Russians is taking a positive view of the despot’s role in history, and analysts have pointed to the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin in the country.

Nostalgic for the superpower status of the USSR, many Russian officials have been promoting Stalin as a tough leader who led the Soviet Union to victory in the second world war and presided over the country’s industrialisation.

The Soviet Union lost an estimated 20 million people in the war and the legacy of what is known in the country as the Great Patriotic war is venerated.

Officials declared Wednesday and Thursday public holidays in Volgograd following a request from war veterans. The city was renamed Volgograd in 1961, eight years after the death of Stalin.

Since 2013, the city is temporarily renamed Stalingrad several times a year, including on 2 February and on 9 May, when Russia holds nationwide celebrations on the anniversary of the Soviet victory in the second world war.