Ukrainian soldiers load ammunition for a machine gun at their position at a frontline in Donetsk region. /Ukraine Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters
TOP HEADLINES
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine like Nazi Germany was beaten in World War II, commemorating Victory in Europe Day. "All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated," Zelenskyy said in a video statement. READ MORE BELOW
• Russia launched its biggest wave of drone strikes on Ukraine for months, escalating attacks in the run-up to its May 9 Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany, which Kyiv marked a day earlier in a new break with Moscow.
• Kyiv's mayor said Russia had fired 60 Iranian-made kamikaze drones at Ukrainian targets, including 36 at the capital, all of which had been shot down. However, debris hit apartments and other buildings, injuring at least five people on the ground.
• The military said 16 rockets had hit the Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the last 24 hours, in addition to 61 strikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas.
• Brussels has proposed to EU member states an 11th round of sanctions over Russia's offensive in Ukraine aimed at cutting down on evasion, a spokesman said.
• European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen will visit Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with Zelenskyy, an EU spokesman said. "The visit will focus on all the dimensions of our relations with Ukraine," spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters.
• Kyiv said Moscow was also making a final push to try to capture the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut, to deliver President Vladimir Putin what would be his only prize for a costly Russian winter offensive, in time for Victory Day.
• A food warehouse was set ablaze by a missile in the Black Sea city of Odesa, where officials reported three people were injured.
• Russian investigators charged a man suspected of carrying out a car bombing that wounded a prominent Russian nationalist writer with terrorist offenses. Zakhar Prilepin, who had both legs broken in a car bomb that killed his driver, insisted he would not be scared off.
This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) awarding a servicewoman during a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv. /Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP
IN DETAIL
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine like Nazi Germany was beaten in World War II, commemorating Victory in Europe Day.
"All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated," Zelenskyy said in a video statement standing in front of a war memorial. "Just as we destroyed evil together then, we are destroying a similar evil together now," he added.
His address came on the anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender to allied forces on May 8, 1945 and one day ahead of Victory Day in Moscow, celebrating the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.
Zelenskyy said he had submitted a bill to parliament to formally commemorate World War II in Ukraine on May 8 and celebrate Europe Day on May 9, distancing itself further from Moscow.
He said the Kremlin was responsible for "aggression and annexation, occupation and deportation," as well as "mass murder and torture."
"All of this will be answered by our victory - the victory of Ukraine and the free world."
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