Following Russia’s Victory Day parade on the 9th of May, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to guests, and journalists, yesterday evening, in a closed hall at the Kremlin, where he thanked his foreign allies and Russia’s fighters in Ukraine. In one of his typical anti-western-historiographic diatribes, Putin said that in Ukraine, Russia is fighting and standing up against Europe’s Nazi historical narratives on Russia and World War 2.
More importantly, Putin announced that he did not accept Ukraine’s offer for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and instead invited Ukraine for talks in Istanbul on May 15th. Putin also mentioned Odessa and Sevastopol in his speech to refer to the Soviet Union’s war against Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Yesterday, before Putin’s speech, European leaders gathered in Kyiv to support President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bid for a thirty-day ceasefire. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were also in a call between President Donald Trump and President Zelensky discussing the ceasefire plan.
Earlier this morning, air raid alerts in various cities sound the alarm as Russia launched a renewed wave of Shahed drones targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Newsroom
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