Zelensky speaking before Allied forces on May 8, 1945, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender.
Kyiv:
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Monday that Russian forces in Ukraine would be defeated as they defeated Nazi Germany in 1945 during a speech commemorating the end of World War II.
His speech, recorded at a war memorial in Kiev, comes a day before Victory Day in Moscow, a Soviet war anniversary marked by an army parade through Red Square with security on high alert.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces said they shot down about three dozen Russian attack drones, triggering explosions and air raid sirens throughout the night in the capital.
“All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back, Nazism, will be defeated,” Zelensky said in a video at Kiev’s World War II memorial.
“As we destroyed evil together then, so together we destroy evil now.”
Zelensky was speaking before Allied forces on May 8, 1945, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender, Victory in Europe Day.
He added that he had introduced a bill in parliament to formally commemorate World War II on May 8 in Ukraine as well, which like Russia and other former Soviet countries is marked on May 9.
It is the latest in a series of steps Ukraine has taken in recent years to distance itself from Moscow, including renaming streets and towns after Soviet ones.
Zelensky said Ukraine would also celebrate a separate Europe Day on 9 May, which promotes peace and unity on the continent.
– ‘Always Scary’ –
The European Union welcomed the move and said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen would visit Kiev on Tuesday for talks with Zelensky.
Ahead of the visit, Brussels proposed a new round of sanctions on Russia. A spokesman said the measures would seek to tackle “sanctions evasion”.
The Kremlin has leaned on World War II rhetoric to justify its invasion, saying last February it was launching the war to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
But the Ukrainian leader said the Kremlin was responsible for “aggression and occupation, occupation and deportation” as well as “mass murder and torture”.
“All this will be answered by our victory – the victory of Ukraine and the free world.”
In Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russians launched about 60 drones overnight, 36 of them in the direction of the capital. He said five people were injured in the attacks.
AFP reporters view an apartment damaged by debris in the capital’s Svyatoshinsky district.
Resident Vadim, 47, said he heard air raid sirens and his neighbour’s building shaking when the rubble hit him.
“We’ve been at war for a year. It’s always scary. Not as scary as the front line. But it’s definitely scary. Terrible for the kids,” she told AFP.
– Phosphorus weapon –
He said that his own children had come to visit only a few hours before the attack.
In the southern region of Odessa, officials said a Russian attack hit a warehouse, killing one and injuring several.
Officials said Russian forces also targeted a village in the southern region of Kherson, injuring six civilians, including a nine-year-old boy.
In the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine accused Russian forces of deploying phosphorus ammunition in Bakhmut, which has been the epicenter of fighting for several months.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary organization Wagner, said on Monday that his army in Bakhmut had begun to receive much-needed ammunition.
In a series of profanity-laced videos, Prigozhin last week accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of blocking supplies.
Victory Day, a key event on the Russian political calendar under President Vladimir Putin, is going ahead despite a series of recent sabotage attacks in the country.
Military parades have been canceled in more than two dozen Russian cities over security concerns, as well as in centers controlled by the Russian military on the Crimean peninsula.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced Monday that he would visit Moscow for Victory Day events despite growing dismay at home over Russia’s role in Yerevan’s standoff with historic rival Azerbaijan.
Leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are also expected to attend the ceremony in Moscow.
Russia will expand its military installations in the Central Asian ally, the Kremlin said on Monday after talks between Putin and Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)