This year, the Russian president ordered his soldiers to observe a ceasefire in Ukraine from May 8 to 10, during these celebrations which will be crowned, as every year, by a large military parade under the walls of the Kremlin. But Ukraine, which has faced a large -scale offensive since 2022, accused the Russian army of attacking on Thursday on the entire front line, evoking hundreds of violations of the truce.
The Russian forces have assured, “strictly respect” the ceasefire, simply claiming “responding” to Ukrainian violations. US President Donald Trump called the two countries on Thursday evening to a “unconditional ceasefire” of 30 days. The leaders of around twenty nations must stand alongside Mr. Putin, including Chinese presidents Xi Jinping and Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, as well as those of countries traditionally allied with Russia such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Vietnam, Armenia, Cuba and Venezuela.
Isolation policy. Despite the policy of isolation advocated by the Westerners, the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico – defying the injunctions of Brussels – and the Serbian Head of State Aleksandar Vucic are also announced, as well as the president of the Serbs of Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, sought by Bosnian justice. Since Tuesday, Moscow and kyiv have continued their crossed air strikes, leading to Russia the delay or cancellation of hundreds of flights due to Ukrainian drone attacks.
The Kremlin said it took “all necessary measures” to ensure the safety of celebrations, including by limiting Internet access to thwart drone attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky qualified him the military parade provided for Moscow as a “lies” parade.
The Russian authorities have promised this year of ceremonies of an unprecedented scale for the May 9, the main patriotic high mass in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. For several days, the streets of the Russian capital have been flooded in national colors and the vast majority of businesses and restaurants have placarded posters calling to “remember” the 1945 victory and to be “proud”.
-Forbidden criticism. In the past three years, Mr. Putin has often referred to the memory of victory over Nazi Germany to defend the military offensive against Ukraine, Russia ensuring that it wants to “denazify” this neighboring country, of which it still occupies around 20 % of the territory. The Second World War, which left more than 20 million dead in the USSR and claimed incredible sacrifices from the population, caused a trauma that is still felt within society and which has fed a patriotism exploited by the Russian president.
Shortly after the start of the assault against Ukraine, the Russian authorities prohibited any criticism of the armed forces, accentuating a repression which threw several hundred people in prison and pushed thousands of others to go into exile. Apart from the leaders, soldiers from 13 countries must take part in the Grande Parade in the Red Square, including those of China, Vietnam, Burma and Egypt.
Western “hegemonic”. On Thursday, Mr. Putin and his Chinese counterpart displayed their agreement in the face of a West presented as “hegemonic”, during a meeting at the Kremlin preceding the commemorations. China is accused of helping Russia bypassing Western sanctions, or even providing it with weapons, as kyiv recently said, which Beijing denies.
The authorities of several regions of Russia, including that of Krasnodar in the Southwest, canceled their parades of May 9 this year for fear of possible Ukrainian attacks. The May 9 parade attracts large crowds of spectators every year, who often come with the family.
© Agence France-Presse
