Russia and Ukraine on Saturday traded accusations of violating a three-day ceasefire, but no major strikes were reported. “Since the beginning of the day, the number of attacks by the aggressor has reached 51,” the Ukrainian military general staff said. Volodymyr Petrov, from the 33rd separate mechanised brigade in the eastern Kharkiv region, told Agence France-Presse that “the ceasefire is ongoing” but that the Russians were still attacking with drones and artillery. “We’re responding in kind,” he said.
Russian drones killed two civilians and wounded three in Ukraine’s central-eastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, local authorities said. In Russia’s western Belgorod region, three people were wounded by Ukrainian drone strikes, said the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov. No attacks were recorded on Russia’s diminished Victory Day parade on Red Square.
The Russian defence ministry said that “despite the declaration of a ceasefire, Ukrainian armed groups launched attacks using drones and artillery against our troops’ positions”. It did not provide the exact number of violations on Saturday. Casualties were still reported on both sides, as Moscow and Kyiv continued to exchange drone strikes.
Vladimir Putin has said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down – remarks that came a few hours after he had vowed to defeat Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since the second world war.
Putin said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder – of whom many in Europe will be sceptical given his background as a close friend and ally of Putin, and history of business ties to Russia. In 2022, after the war broke out, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, called Schröder “disgusting” for meeting with Putin and speaking in his favour.
Pjotr Sauer writes that Moscow on Saturday was blanketed in heavy security, with internet services switched off across the city after a week in which Ukraine continued to rattle the Kremlin with long-range drone and missile strikes – forcing organisers to strip the Victory Day parade of its usual pageantry. The customary display of missiles and armoured vehicles, a fixture since 2017, was absent entirely. In its place, guests were shown a video showcasing Russian drones and nuclear weapons. The audience included only a small delegation of foreign leaders from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, who watched as a column of North Korean soldiers also marched across the square.
Putin said on Saturday that Russia has not received any proposals from Ukraine on a prisoner swap announced as part of their ceasefire. “We are counting on the Ukrainian side to respond to the proposal made by the president of the United States. Unfortunately, we still have not received any proposals so far,” Putin said.
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