Russia cancels Immortal Regiment march on Victory Day amid security concerns

Russia canceled this year’s march of the Immortal Regiment, traditionally held on Red Square on May 9 after the military parade on the anniversary of the victory over the Nazis, for security reasons. “When dealing with a state that actually sponsors terrorism, it is better to take precautions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Ukraine. This is reported by Ria Novosti.

During the march of the Immortal Regiment, the descendants of those who fought against the Third Reich parade carrying photographs of their relatives. President Vladimir Putin also took part last year, showing a photograph of his father.

Furthermore, on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the defeat of the Third Reich, Putin sent a special message to the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the two breakaway republics on Georgian territory Abkhazia and Ossetia of the South. “Today – reads the message – it is our moral duty to preserve the sacred traditions of friendship and mutual
assistance handed down from our fathers and grandfathers, do not allow the historical truth about the Great Patriotic War to be distorted and do not allow the justifications of the Nazis, their accomplices and their current ideological heirs”.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry persists still, according to which Maria Zakharova the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is a “traitor” and the “new incarnation of Judas in the 21st century”, for having brought forward the celebrations to 8 May the defeat of Nazism,
thus differentiating itself from Moscow which celebrates this day on May 9th. Zelensky, writes Zakharova in Telegram, is “a fascist collaborationist 80 years later” who “betrayed his fathers: those who fought in the ranks of the Red Army, who suffered and were tortured in concentration camps, who worked for victory in the rear”.

In the Russian region of Belgorod, local authorities report “massive shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces. The city of Shebekino has been attacked, there are four injured”, reported the governor of Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov, quoted by RIA Novosti. “Today,
Shebekino was hit by massive shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the first attack there were no damages, in the second there was an explosion near three apartment buildings: there are 4 injured,” Gladkov said. The city of Shebekino is located four kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

The Ukrainian bombing follows a night of massive Russian raids, focused on Kiev and Odessa but reaching many regions of the country. In the last 24 hours, Russian forces have shelled 10 regions, affecting 127 settlements and 139 infrastructures, according to the Defense Ministry. At least 3 people are reported dead and 28 others injured. In the Kiev region, the raids lasted about 4 hours: “The air defense has function and no hits were successful,” says the bulletin. Bush fires were recorded around and in the Ukrainian capital, which were immediately extinguished, caused by the debris of the downed drones, and the damage to various cars, with no victims.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko explained that Russia launched 60 Iranian-made kamikaze drones against Ukrainian targets, including 36 in the capital, last night and that all were shot down. However, the debris struck apartments and other buildings, injuring at least five people.

Last night was the largest Russian attack on Kiev since the invasion began, Klitschko told media as he stood at the site of the crash site of one of the drones shot down over the capital. “Thanks to our air defense forces, all 36 drones have been shot down. This is the most massive attack on our city since the beginning of the war,” he said, quoted by UNIAN, noting that no one died while 5 people were killed. got injured. “No one’s life is in danger,” he explained, also referring to damage to residential buildings, as well as a kindergarten and a school.

As a result of the Russian bombing in the Odessa region, a warehouse with humanitarian aid from the Red Cross was destroyed. The provision of assistance has been suspended. This was communicated by the press office of the Red Cross, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda. “The warehouse with an area of ​​one thousand square meters was completely destroyed. The fire completely destroyed the humanitarian aid for the Odessa region, which was in the warehouse,” says the Red Cross, representatives of which were not present at the time of the missile attack.

President Zelensky also recalled the anniversary of the victory over the Third Reich, stating that Russia will be defeated “in the same way” as Nazism was in 1945. “All the evil that modern Russia brings with it will be defeated in the same way in which Nazism was defeated,” Zelensky said on social media, reiterating his promise to “liberate” all Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow’s forces.

ANSA Agency

Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates the victory over Nazism in a message to the leaders of the former Soviet republics underlining the need to oppose the ‘current ideological heirs’ of Nazism (ANSA)

ANSA Agency

Four days after two intercepted drones exploded over the Kremlin, Moscow’s security services said they had thwarted a new sensational Ukrainian attack in the heart of Russia.

For his part, Air Force Colonel Yuri Ignat, quoted by Ukrainska Pravda, announced that Russia has launched up to 8 X-22 cruise missiles in the Odessa region, some of which have not reached their target. “As for the Odessa region, there were 7 aircraft and up to 8 Kh-22 cruise missile launches, some of them flew to the Odessa region, some objects were hit, the rest of the missiles did not reach their targets (perhaps by self-destruct, perhaps they just fall due to their aging, because these are obsolete Soviet missiles).”