According to the Russian leader, he is willing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in a third country, but only after all the conditions for a possible peace agreement have been agreed.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putinstated this Saturday (9) that the war in Ukraine “is approaching an end” and harshly criticized Western countries for helping the country, amid a brief truce that both sides accuse each other of violating.
“They began to intensify the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day. I believe it is approaching an end, but it is still a serious matter,” Putin told reporters.
During the celebration of the Soviet victory over the Nazis, Russian President attacked the role played by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the conflict.
“They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat, for their state to collapse. That didn’t happen. And then they got stuck in this dynamic and now they can’t get out of it,” he declared.
According to Putin, he is willing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in a third country, but only after all the conditions for a possible peace agreement are reached. “This should be the final point, and not the negotiations themselves”, he highlighted.
The event in Moscow’s Red Square lasted just 45 minutes, including the presidential speech, and did not display weapons, amid fears of Ukrainian attacks.
Unlike last year’s pomp, when around 20 international leaders from countries like China and Brazil attended, this time Only a few allied leaders participateds, from nations such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Slovakia.
Ceasefire violations
The celebration benefited at the last moment from the entry into force of a three-day truce between Russia and Ukraine, Donald Trump.
However, the two parties accuse each other this Saturday of violating her. “Since the beginning of the day, the number of attacks by the aggressor has reached 51,” the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “despite the declaration of a ceasefire, Ukrainian armed groups launched drone and artillery attacks against the positions of our troops.”
A little later, Putin assured that he had not yet received any proposal from Ukraine regarding a possible prisoner exchange, as Trump had announced.
After more than four years of conflict, Russia controls around 20% of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
During the celebrations, as seen on Russian television, North Korean soldiers participatedwho in 2025 helped Moscow expel Ukrainian troops from the Russian region of Kursk.
The parade started at 10:00 local time (04:00 Brasília time) and ended at 10:45 am, under strong security measures. THE mobile internet was cut off in the center of Moscow and many streets in the capital were almost empty, AFP journalists found.
The celebrations in Moscow’s Red Square are a key event that allows Putin to exalt the memory of the Soviet triumph in 1945 and unite the Russian population in support of the military campaign in Ukraine.
But this year the acts were threatened by Kiev’s incessant drone attacks and on the streets, Moscow residents don’t seem very hopeful that peace will return anytime soon.
The end of the conflict “will not be soon, no matter how much we all want peace”, Elena, a 36-year-old economist who prefers not to give her last name and is mainly irritated by the internet shutdown, tells AFP. “I need it, and it doesn’t have it.”
May 9th is “a day like any other”, adds Danil, 26, on his way to the gym. Asked if this brief truce is a prelude to peaceresponds with a dry “no”.
After two attempts at a truce, first Ukrainian and then Russian, which were not respected this week, Trump announced on Friday a three-day ceasefire between the parties starting this Saturday.
Trump considered that the end of the war is “getting closer and closer“, while this week talks between Ukrainian and American negotiators resumed in Florida.
These talks had been on the back burner since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28. On Friday, the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, said he expected Washington’s envoys to arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
