Russia moving air defence systems to Moscow for Victory Day parade, Zelenskyy assigns separate tasks to intelligence
The Kremlin regime is redeploying air defence systems from Russian regions to Moscow, where a military parade is planned for 9 May to celebrate Victory Day, Ukrainian intelligence services report. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced new "long-range sanctions", saying Russia does not want a ceasefire. [Victory Day is a Russian holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, celebrated on 9 May – ed.]
Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter), following a report by Oleh Ivashchenko, Head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU)
Quote: "Today [6 May – ed.], I issued separate tasks to Defence Intelligence of Ukraine regarding Russia's air defence system. We see that in recent weeks, additional rings of air defence have been built up around Moscow at the expense of a large-scale redeployment of systems from Russia's regions. This indicates that the Russian leadership is not preparing for the ceasefire that has been the subject of so many statements, and is more concerned about its parade in Moscow than about the rest of Russia.
At the same time, we observe that this creates additional opportunities for our long-range sanctions. We will define our corresponding priorities."
Background:
- Zelenskyy said that Russia has violated the ceasefire introduced by Kyiv from the beginning of 6 May, adding that Ukraine will respond in kind.
- On 4 May, Zelenskyy announced the introduction of a ceasefire. It was to begin exactly at 00:00 on 6 May. Russia had not responded in any way, continuing its military operations and attacks on Ukraine.
- Earlier on 4 May, Russia's Ministry of Defence unilaterally declared a "truce" for 8 and 9 May and warned that if the Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9 May is "disrupted", it will launch a large-scale missile strike on central Kyiv.
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