Russia's Putin compares Germany sending tanks to Ukraine to WWIIbr br President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is being threatened by German tanks "again" as it was during World War II, warning that Moscow is ready to respond to aggression from the West. Speaking on the 80th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad, Putin compares the Third Reich's invasion of the USSR to Germany's supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.