no mass mobilization, which was maybe unsurprising given the significant political and economic costs it could have had, but also no sense of victory. no sense of progress. i think that s what i found most surprising is he didn t talk about mariupol or kherson or try to spin this as, you know, progress for russia in the east and the south. and then no nuclear saber rattling, and finally, there was no, as we heard matthew chance say, though, no sense of when this war would end. i didn t take from this speech someone who was ready to back down. in that sense we re looking at a situation that s going to grind on for a long time. what was the take away for you? this was a defensive speech, vladimir putin trying to justify again and again why he illegally invaded ukraine, and if anything, this is a victory day for ukraine. this is a strategic failure for russia right now. it s clear that russia is suffering economically at home.
contributor reuben johnson disappeared. while driving to the train station, he says he was ambushed and his car riddled with bullets. miraculously he survived but he says he was robbed and captured by russian soldiers and detained at gunpoint for two full weeks. reuben johnson joins us now to tell us story. first, reuben, you must feel so lucky to be alive. tell us what happened when you were driving to the train station near kyiv? well, thank you for having me, first of all, and thank you for staying on this very important story. what was happening was we were driving to a train station to try to get an evacuation train that would have taken us to the west of ukraine and eventually to poland, and the road that we were told was open was blocked. when we tried to go around the roadblock, there was no one present but as soon as we tried to skirt the roadblock out of nowhere appeared russian soldiers and they just began shooting. they never asked us to stop.
and we in america take pride in this too. vladimir putin has been time and again banging on the idea that he s defeating nazis, and the foreign minister lavrov calling essentially zelenskyy an ally, a jewish leader, ally of the nazis, it didn t fly, it doesn t work, the russian people if mobilized by victory day, that s one thing because national pride but to see that translate to more and further aggressive actions, clearly vladimir putin had the ability to do that on victory day. interesting speech. expectations management. great to success this with you. i appreciate it, guys, thanks. away from the pageantry and rhetoric in red square, the russian military is inflicting more pain and suffering on the ukrainian people. at least 60 are feared dead after ukraine says russia bombed
sent to her by her husband, president joe biden. happy mother s day. thank you. kate bennett, cnn, brataslyva, slovakia. good morning to viewers here in the united states and around the world, it is monday, may 9th. i m brianna keilar with john avlon. john berman is off this morning. and this morning, a show of military might in moscow. vladimir putin defending his actions in ukraine at russia s victory day ceremony. putin claiming the west was creating threats and preparing to invade russia. the big plan to have 77 aircraft fly over red square to commemorate the 1945 victory over nazi germany.
won t you stand won t you stand stand by me what a moment, right? unbelievable. how about that. look, bri, cards on the table, i am a huge u2 fan but seeing bono and the edge play in kyiv during wartime, just the comfort and courage that gives, just a great moment. yeah, it really is. and i don t know if i m more surprised just to see him pop up there or if i m more surprised that he can still hit those high notes. he can still do it on a good day. sounded better than the iconic concert in sarajevo which is a similar moment in some respects, but man, with or without you got to love it. really sends a message. on march 4th, just hours after filing an on the ground assessment of the first few weeks of the russian invasion of ukraine, breaking defense