KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of planning to organize a military parade in the occupied city of Mariupol on May 9 to celebrate victory over the Nazis in World War II.
Kyiv said an official from Russia’s presidential administration had come to the strategic port city to oversee plans for the Victory Day parade, which has been largely destroyed in Russia’s more than two-month invasion of Ukraine.
“Mariupol will become the center of the ‘festival’,” Ukraine’s military intelligence said in a statement on social media.
“The city’s central streets are being immediately cleared of debris, dead bodies and unexploded ordnance.”
Mariupol is one of the most battered cities in Ukraine. A group of Ukrainian forces is still operating at its Azovstal steel plant.
“There is a massive publicity campaign going on. The Russians will be shown stories of the local people’s ‘happiness’ upon meeting the occupiers.”
Mariupol mayor Vadim Boichenko later told Ukrainian television that “works” were going on in the city, as if the Russians were preparing something.
“They are removing signs of crimes they have committed,” he said.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that Russian troops had launched an offensive to send troops inside Azovstal, soon after the United Nations and the Red Cross confirmed the evacuation of more than 100 civilians from the site.
The Kremlin denied that Russia was attacking the plant on Wednesday, but Boichenko said there was “heavy fighting” and that city officials had “lost contact” with the troops, with no way of knowing that. What is happening, are they safe or not?
At a briefing on the army’s plan on 9 May, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made no mention of a celebratory march in Mariupol.
He said the parade will take place in 28 cities, which will include around 65,000 people, 2,400 military hardware and more than 400 aircraft.
Russians celebrate Victory Day with military parades and public events on 9 May every year to commemorate the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat of the Soviet Union in World War II.
Moscow has said its massive offensive was aimed at “de-militarizing” and “de-nazifying” Ukraine.
Mariupol’s mayor appeals for a ‘complete evacuation’ of his southern Ukrainian city. On Victory Day, Putin called for non-block security.