During his annual Victory Day speech in Moscow's Red Square on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the Ukraine war was "unleashed" on Russia and blamed "Western global elites" while calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a puppet.

Putin also directly compared his ongoing war in Ukraine to the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, which is what Victory Day commemorates. He claimed that Russia "once again" was fighting for "civilization" and he painted a topsy-turvy picture that Moscow wants peace with all nations.

"Today, the civilization is once again at a decisive, turning point and an actual war has been unleashed against our homeland again," Putin said. "But we fended off international terrorism, we will protect residents of Donbas too and ensure our security."

Putin's speech made clear once more that the Russian president has no intention of negotiating currently or scaling back his ambitions to defeat Ukraine.

However, the Victory Day military parade in Moscow was a significantly shrunken version of itself on Tuesday, compared with previous years, due to Russia's huge losses in Ukraine and its urgent need for equipment. There appeared to be approximately 50 military vehicles taking part in this year's event compared with 130 during the 2019 parade. Tuesday's parade was also comprised of nearly all high armored vehicles, similar to Humvees.

The flypast part of the event, which usually involves helicopters and fighter jets, was cancelled on Tuesday despite clear, sunny skies in the Russian capital. But perhaps what was most notable was the cancelling of the parade in at least 24 Russian cities due to security concerns that Ukrainian forces might be able to strike them, likely because of Russia's shortages of troops and equipment.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine around 5 a.m. local time Tuesday.

Air defense systems were activated in the Kyiv region.

The Russian airstrike on Kyiv was the "fifth air attack" on the capital since the beginning of May, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.

About 15 Russian missiles were launched at Kyiv and intercepted by the Ukrainian air defenses around Kyiv with "no casualties and major damage," the city military administration added.-ABC News' Yulia Drozd and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Four people were injured from falling debris after a Russian drone was shot down above Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Three of the people injured were at the site of the explosion in Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv, and one was in the Svyatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, where wreckage fell on a residential building, the mayor added.

Debris also fell on runway at the Zhulyany airport in the Solomyansky district of Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.

In Odesa, Russian troops launched a missile attack from strategic aircraft, Ukrainian Operational Command South said on Facebook. The X-22-type rockets used by the Russians were "aimed at one of the food companies and recreational zones on the Black Sea coast," the Operational Command South said.

Rescue services are working to put fires out, and no information about the number of people injured was immediately available, they added.

-ABC News' Max Uzol and Natalia Kushniir

Air alert sirens went off in several regions of Ukraine late Sunday evening as Russian forces launched a widespread airstrike on the country.

Air alert sirens went off in central and southeastern Ukraine, including in the Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine.

Kh-22 missiles were launched toward Odesa, unofficial Telegram channels reported. The air defense systems were activated in response to the attack and repeated explosions were heard in the area, unofficial channels reported.

-ABC News' Max Uzol and Anastasia Bagaeva

One year ago, with Ukraine's borders surrounded by what seemed to be a superior military force, many U.S. officials and analysts predicted a swift Russian blitz to Kyiv.

But after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his more than 150,000 arrayed troops across the border, it soon became clear that a dual reassessment was in order: The Russian invaders were less potent than advertised, and the Ukrainians were unexpectedly stubborn and wily in the defense.

Some of the Russian troops weren’t even aware they were on a combat mission until Ukrainian bullets came cracking past them, according to U.S. officials. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces stalled a massive Russian supply convoy through direct attacks and by destroying a key bridge. Only one week into the invasion, Putin's men were plagued with food and fuel shortages, morale running similarly low.

Kyiv stood.

"Putin assumed that Ukraine was an easy target, Putin assumed that Kyiv would easily fall, and Putin assumed that the world would stand by," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a speech in Brussels last week. "But the Kremlin was wrong on every count."

Ukrainian forces were armed with more than grit.

They also had years of U.S. and NATO military training, plus American-made weapons, like anti-armor Javelins and anti-aircraft Stinger missiles. These made Russian vehicles vulnerable to ambush, and left Russian helicopter and jet pilots wary of flying over Ukrainian positions. Indeed, many airmen did not return from their sorties.

Despite astonishing losses of soldiers and vehicles, Putin has shown no inclination to end the conflict anytime soon. And despite its tenacity, Ukraine has also taken significant casualties, and is not able to produce enough of its own weapons and ammunition to keep up the fight.

Ukraine, after thwarting the advance on its capital, and later routing Russian forces from Kharkiv, now largely faces a battle of supply.

"When this war began, Russia had a larger population, a much bigger defense budget, a bigger military, bigger industrial base. So, this became an industrial war and a war of industrial bases," said Seth Jones, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is why Western industrial support has been so critical."

A key question now is, despite massive military aid packages and a promise to send even more, could the U.S. strategy ultimately result, not in a Ukrainian victory, but a stalemate in a years-long war of attrition?

-ABC News' Matt Seyler