On Victory in Europe Day, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that Russian forces in Ukraine will be crushed in the same way as Nazi Germany was vanquished in WWII.
“All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated,” Zelensky said in a video statement, adding: “Just as we destroyed evil together then, we are destroying a similar evil together now.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Monday that Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine just as Nazi Germany was beaten in 1945, during an address commemorating the end of World War II.
His speech recorded at a war memorial in Kyiv comes one day ahead of Victory Day in Moscow, a Soviet war anniversary to be marked by an army parade through Red Square with security on high alert.
Ukrainian forces meanwhile said they had downed nearly three dozen Russian attack drones, spurring explosions and air raid sirens in the capital overnight.
Zelensky 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.”
The address came hours after Ukrainian forces said they had downed 35 attack drones launched by Russia, which left five people wounded in Kyiv.
In the southern region of Odesa, officials reported an airstrike hitting a warehouse, in which three people were injured.
