Day ahead of the traditional Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned representatives of countries allied with Russia against travelling to the Russian capital for the annual May 9 events marking the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
In his nightly address on Thursday, Zelensky said Ukraine had received requests about travel to the Russian capital from some Moscow-allied states, which noted that their representatives planned to attend the festivities.
The Ukrainian leader called wanting to attend the celebrations "a strange desire" at such a time. "We advise against it," he said.
Moscow's traditional May 9 celebrations include a military parade on Red Square. Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a ceasefire for the celebrations, a move Zelensky dismissed with scepticism.
"They want Ukraine's permission to hold their parade so they can go safely onto the square for an hour once a year," Zelensky said. Afterwards, Russia wanted to continue killing people in Ukraine and waging war, he said.
Shortly before, Moscow had reaffirmed the temporary pause in fighting, saying Russian forces would halt combat operations from midnight on Friday (2100 GMT Thursday) until May 10, in line with Putin’s unilateral ceasefire order, the Defence Ministry said.
At the same time, Moscow repeated its threat to respond with a massive attack on the centre of Kiev should Ukraine try to disrupt the celebrations in Moscow. The ministry again urged foreign diplomats and civilians to leave the Ukrainian capital.
Kiev had earlier proposed its own unilateral ceasefire, potentially starting as early as Wednesday, but abandoned the initiative after just one day when Russia launched one of its largest drone attacks of the more than four-year war.
