Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday amplified upon his previous threats of violence upon the gathering of world leaders in Moscow for the annual May 9 celebrations of victory over the Nazis in World War II. Previously, Zelenskyy, while attacking Putin’s three-day, unilateral truce as a “manipulation,” had said: “They are now concerned that their parade is in jeopardy and rightly so. What they should worry about is that this war continues.” Yesterday, Zelenskyy told reporters, according to Interfax-Ukraine. “No one is going to help Putin play this in order to give him a soft atmosphere of escape from isolation on May 9, and to make everyone feel comfortable and safe—those leaders, friends, or partners of Putin who will come to Kremlin Square.... We are either at war, or Putin is showing that he is ready for a ceasefire.”
Kiev’s Center for Countering Disinformation, run out of Ukraine’s Office of the President, summarized Zelenskyy’s threat: “Our position is very simple with regard to all the countries that are going to 9 May: we cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They are ensuring your safety and therefore we will not give you any guarantees.” Further, Zelenskyy, according to RT, said that he had instructed Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to advise against visiting Russia during this period. “We must tell those who approach us: ‘we do not recommend visiting the Russian Federation from a security standpoint. And if you choose to do so, don’t ask us—it’s your personal decision.’”
The Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak underlined the message by reposting a cartoon of Zelenskyy presiding over Red Square in flames: The caption reads: “We’ve done what we could to bring this day closer.”
The spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova yesterday stated that Zelenskyy’s remarks “once again prove the neo-Nazi nature of the Kiev regime, which has turned into a terrorist cell.... Today he hit a new low: now he is threatening the physical safety of veterans who will come to parades and ceremonial events on that sacred day.” She explained: “After every terrorist attack on Russian territory, the Kiev regime, its security services, and Zelenskyy personally boast that it was their doing and that it will continue to be like this. Therefore, the phrase that he ‘does not guarantee security on May 9 on Russian territory,’ since this is not his area of responsibility, is, of course, a direct threat.”
The never-reticent Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, and former Russian President, posted on Telegram: “Who needs his guarantees? It’s just a verbal provocation. Nothing more… This scum understands that no one guarantees that Kyiv will see 10 May in the event of a real provocation on Victory Day.”
