Vladimir Putin Says Ukraine War Is Coming To An End At Moscow Victory Day Parade

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at Moscow’s scaled-back Victory Day parade that “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” as the event omitted tanks and other heavy weapons for the first time in nearly two decades.

“Putin denounces Nato at scaled-back Victory Day parade Vladimir Putin has used his annual Victory Day speech in Moscow's Red Square to justify his war in Ukraine and denounce Nato”

BBC

The remarks came as Ukrainian officials said there had been Russian drone strikes and “nearly 150 battlefield clashes over the past 24 hours,” despite a US-brokered three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow announced on the eve of the parade.

BBC

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Russia had shot down 57 Ukrainian drones, while the Guardian reported that Moscow’s parade was held under heavy security with internet services switched off across the city.

In Ukraine, the Guardian cited regional governors saying one person was killed in Russian strikes on the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, and that eight people including two children were wounded in drone attacks on the regional capital and nearby settlements in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

After the parade, Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of breaking the ceasefire, while Ukraine did not immediately comment, according to the BBC’s account of the three-day truce announced by US President Donald Trump.

The BBC quoted Putin justifying the war by saying he was fighting a “just” war and calling Ukraine an “aggressive force” that is being “armed and supported by the whole bloc of Nato.”

CBS News

The Guardian reported that Putin said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe and named Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder as his preferred negotiating partner.

The Guardian also reported that Putin said he was ready to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country only once all conditions for a potential peace agreement were settled, adding that “This should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves.”

The scaled-back parade took place under tightened security after recent long-range Ukrainian drone strikes on a range of targets, with the Guardian saying the Kremlin took widespread measures to protect the event.

“Russia’s Victory Day parade, which commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, was scaled down amid fears of Ukrainian drone attacks”

CNN

The Guardian reported that the customary display of missiles and armoured vehicles was absent entirely, and that Moscow was blanketed in heavy security with internet services switched off across the city.

In Moscow, CNN described the parade as “scaled down amid fears of Ukrainian drone attacks,” noting that tanks and heavy weapons were missing from Red Square after the three-day ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump took effect on May 9.

The BBC said foreign guests in attendance included Belarus’s leader Alexander Lukashenko, Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim and Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was pictured meeting Putin at the Kremlin ahead of the parade.