’Ukraine will respond in kind’, Zelenskyy says after Russia breaks Kyiv’s ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of rejecting efforts towards a ceasefire with hourly attacks across the country, warning Moscow that Kyiv will “respond in kind.” “As of today, we see that Russia has responded to our proposal for a ceasefire only with new strikes and new attacks,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Wednesday. “Depending on the situation tonight and tomorrow, we will also determine our entirely justified responses.” Ukraine’s president also stated that Russia “received a clear proposal” from Kyiv regarding a ceasefire and diplomacy and the Kremlin “knows how to contact Ukraine or its partners to agree on the details.” “However, if that one person in Moscow, who cannot live without war, is interested in nothing but a parade and nothing else, that is a different matter.” Separate ceasefire proposals Earlier this week, Russia announced there would be a two-day "Victory Day truce" on 8-9 May, planned to coincide with the country's Victory Day parade on Red Square in Moscow. Ukraine responded with its own ceasefire proposal for midnight 6 May, arguing that its timeframe would be enough to test whether a genuine pause in fighting could take hold. But Zelenskyy said that within the first 10 hours of the Kyiv-proposed truce, it was violated by Russian forces 1,820 times. The violations included Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure and drone strikes. On Wednesday morning, Russia hit a kindergarten in northern Sumy region, killing two people. No children were present at the time of the attack. After Russia's apparent rejection of Ukraine's ceasefire proposal, attention will now turn towards what will happen on one of the most important events in the Russian calendar: Victory Day, which celebrates the end of World War II with mass public events. The event tends to be a display of military strength. Since 2022, the parade has sought to link Soviet victory over Nazi Germany with the invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in February of that year. This year, the Kremlin has ordered a scaled-back version of the event, with no military hardware planned to be on display due fears it could be targeted by Ukraine. Russian-installed occupation authorities in annexed Crimea have cancelled Victory Day celebrations altogether due to "safety concerns.”