Russia says Victory Day ceasefire still on, but will respond to Ukrainian attacks

Russia on Tuesday said that while the Victory Day ceasefire will go ahead as planned, but added that it will respond to attacks from Ukraine, if any. The halt in fire will be practised from May 8 to 10.

“President (Vladimir) Putin’s initiative for a temporary ceasefire” remains in force, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, but added that “an adequate response will be given immediately” if Ukraine does not also halt combat operations.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he does “not believe” Russia would adhere to a three-day truce and called for a longer ceasefire.

“This is not the first challenge, nor are these the first promises made by Russia to cease fire,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.

“We understand who we are dealing with, we do not believe them,” said Zelensky, who arrived in Prague Sunday for a two-day visit accompanied by his wife.

“Today and all these days they are talking about wanting some kind of partial ceasefire, but you should know, for example, that the number of assaults today is the highest in recent months,” Zelensky said.

Just three days before the Red Square parade, Kyiv launched a barrage of drone attacks targeting Moscow, forcing the closure of four major airports in the capital city for several hours.

The mayor of the capital city, Sergei Sobyanin, claimed that Russia had downed 19 Ukrainian drones before they reached Moscow “from different directions”. He added that some of the debris had fallen on key highways across the city, however, there were no casualties.

Putin has used WWII narratives to justify sending troops to Ukraine, vowing in 2022 to “de-Nazify” the country and has since compared the current conflict to the Soviet war effort.

He has repeatedly accused the West of not recognising Moscow’s feats in WWII and has argued that the Soviet Union was the war’s main victor.

With inputs from agencies