Russia is mobilizing air defense forces for a parade in Moscow: Volodymyr Zelensky gave separate tasks to the State Defense Forces
Ukrainian intelligence records a large-scale transfer of Russian air defense assets from the regions to Moscow, where a military parade is planned to be held on May 9. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that such actions indicate the unwillingness of the Russian leadership to prepare for a ceasefire. The head of state reported this after a report by the head of the Air Defense Command, Oleg Ivashchenko.
“Today I gave the Air Defense Command certain tasks regarding the Russian air defense system. We see that in these weeks the air defense rings around Moscow are additionally increasing due to the large-scale transfer of air defense from Russian regions. This shows that the Russian leadership is not preparing for the ceasefire, about which so many statements have been made, and is more worried about its parade in Moscow than about the rest of Russia.
At the same time, we note that this opens up additional opportunities for our long-range sanctions. Our corresponding priorities will be determined,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in his Telegram channel.
Earlier, he stated that Russia had disrupted the regime of silence that Ukraine had declared since the beginning of May 6. After that, the president announced that Ukraine’s further actions would be mirrored.
On May 4, Zelensky announced the introduction of a regime of silence, which was to begin at 00:00 on May 6. However, Russia did not respond to this initiative and continued hostilities and shelling of Ukrainian territory.
Prior to this, the Russian Defense Ministry unilaterally declared a “truce” for May 8-9. In the event of a “disruption” of the parade on May 9, Russia threatened a massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv.
