Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky ‘permits’ Putin to hold Victory Day parade after Trump announces ceasefire – UK Times

Russia’s defence ministry has broadcast footage of its troops flying a drone with a replica of the historic “Victory Banner” above areas captured from Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region.

The Victory Banner was erected by Red Army soldiers atop the Reichstag building in Berlin in 1945.

The red flags were also raised in Krasnoarmeysk, Grishino and Seversk in occupied Donetsk to “symbolise the unbreakable bond between generations and fidelity to the heroic traditions of our Fatherland,” the ministry said.

Foreign dignitaries have begun arriving at Red Square in Moscow for the start of today’s Victory Day parade, where Russian leader Vladimir Putin will address the public and military.

Additional security personnel were seen scouting the area this morning, while military officials took their positions for a march.

The parade will begin at 10am local time, coinciding with the beginning of the three-day ceasefire announced by Donald Trump yesterday.

Security was tight in Moscow as president Vladimir Putin was set to speak this morning at a Red Square parade commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Putin, in power for more than a quarter-century, has used Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, to showcase the country’s military might and rally support for his military action in Ukraine, now in its fifth year.

But this year, for the first time in nearly two decades, the parade will take place without tanks, missiles and other heavy weapons, aside from a traditional flyover of combat jets.

Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos president Thongloun Sisoulith, Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko are set to attend the festivities in the Russian capital.

Prime minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, a European Union member, will meet Putin and lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial just outside the Kremlin walls.

French police have arrested a Ukrainian man charged with committing war crimes at the Russian-run Izolyatsia prison in Donetsk.

The man is suspected of having voluntarily collaborated with Russian officials from 2017 to 2019, while assisting the head of the prison in torturing detainees, Ukraine’s prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko said. He has been living in France since 2021.

The torture prison was set up by Russian forces at the premises of a former factory and art centre, Izolyatsia, in Donetsk after capturing the city in 2014.

It swiftly became known as a site of illegal imprisonment and torture of many Ukrainian prisoners of war, along with activists and journalists, according to Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a decree allowing Russia to hold a Victory Day military parade and ensured that his weapons won’t target the Red Square.

Zelensky said: “I hereby decree: to permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on 9 May 2026.”This comes after both Russia and Ukraine confirmed a three-day ceasefire starting from today.

Zelensky said the truce would begin at 10am Kyiv time.

“For the duration of the parade, the territorial sector of Red Square shall be excluded from the operational use plan of Ukrainian weaponry,” the presidential decree said.

On 9 May 2022, Vladimir Putin stood grandly at a podium in Moscow’s Red Square, surveying a legion of armoured military vehicles for the country’s annual Victory Day parade, held in honour of the moment Russia joined forces with the West to defeat Nazi Germany.

Weeks earlier, he’d invaded his neighbour Ukraine, sparking a conflict that has ground on for more than four years. During a defiant speech on that day, the Russian president launched an attack on Nato, Ukraine and a host of western countries.

Surrounded by military hardware, he insisted that Russia was “fighting for the motherland, for her future, and so that nobody forgets the lessons of World War II”.

US president Donald Trump has said he would like to see “a big extension” of the ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

“It could be [extended],” he said.

Trump announced a three-day ceasefire in the war between Ukraine and Russia, along with a prisoner swap that will see both countries hand over 1,000 prisoners each.

The ceasefire is set to begin on Saturday, and will “include a suspension of all kinetic activity”, the US president said.

“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by president Vladimir Putin and president Volodymyr Zelensky. Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought war,” he added.

Russia and Ukraine have confirmed that they have agreed to a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner exchange following an announcement by Donald Trump.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the decision in a post on X. “Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be brought home,” Zelensky said.

He credited the “negotiating process mediated by the American side” for securing the deal and thanked Trump.

Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed Russia’s participation in the ceasefire, according to state-run TASS news agency.