Zelensky Says Russia Will Be Defeated ‘As Nazism Was'

This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on May 6, 2023, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on May 6, 2023, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
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Zelensky Says Russia Will Be Defeated ‘As Nazism Was'

This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on May 6, 2023, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on May 6, 2023, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in a ceremony marking the Infantry Day in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP)

President Volodymyr Zelensky 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.

"All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated," Zelensky said in a video at Kyiv's World War II memorial.

"Just as we destroyed evil together then, we are destroying a similar evil together now," he added.

Zelensky was speaking on the anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender to allied forces on May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day.

He said he had submitted a bill to parliament to formally commemorate World War II in Ukraine also on May 8, which for years was marked on May 9 like in Russia and other ex-Soviet countries.

It is the latest in a series of steps taken by Ukraine in recent years to distance itself from Moscow, including by renaming streets and towns named after Soviet figures.

Zelensky said Ukraine also mark a separate Europe Day on May 9, which promotes peace and unity on the continent.

'Always scary'

The EU welcomed the move and said European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen would visit Kyiv for talks with Zelensky on Tuesday.

Ahead of the visit Brussels proposed a fresh round of sanctions on Russia. A spokesman said the measures would seek to tackle "the evasion of sanctions".

The Kremlin has leaned on World War II rhetoric to justify its invasion, saying in February last year it was launching the war to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

But the Ukrainian leader 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."

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russians had overnight launched nearly 60 drones, 36 of them in the direction of the capital. The attacks wounded five people, he said.

AFP journalists saw a gutted apartment damaged by debris in the Svyatoshynsky district of the capital.

Vadym, a 47-year-old resident of the neighborhood, said he heard air raid sirens and the shaking of his neighboring building when the debris hit.

"We've been at war for a year. It's always scary. Not as scary as on the front line. But of course it's scary. Terrible for children," he told AFP.

Phosphorus munitions

He said his own children had just arrived for a visit hours before the attack.

In the southern region of Odesa, officials said a Russian strike had hit a warehouse, leaving one dead and several injured.

The Russian army also targeted a village in the southern region of Kherson, wounding six civilians including a nine-year-old boy, authorities said.

In the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine said Russian forces had deployed phosphorus munitions in Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting for several months.

Victory Day, a key event on the Russian political calendar under President Vladimir Putin, is going ahead despite a series of recent sabotage attacks in the country.

Military parades in more than two dozen Russian cities have been cancelled over security concerns, as well as in hubs controlled by Russian forces on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced Monday he would visit Moscow for Victory Day events despite growing frustration at home over Russia's role in Yerevan's standoff with historic rival Azerbaijan.

The leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are also expected to attend the celebrations in Moscow.

The Kremlin said following talks between Putin and Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov on Monday that Russia will expand its military installations in the Central Asian ally.



Iran's Top Diplomat is in Pakistan to Mediate in Escalation with India over Kashmir Attack

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister following their talks in Moscow on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Tatyana MAKEYEVA / POOL / AFP)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister following their talks in Moscow on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Tatyana MAKEYEVA / POOL / AFP)
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Iran's Top Diplomat is in Pakistan to Mediate in Escalation with India over Kashmir Attack

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister following their talks in Moscow on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Tatyana MAKEYEVA / POOL / AFP)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister following their talks in Moscow on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Tatyana MAKEYEVA / POOL / AFP)

Iran’s foreign minister was in Pakistan on Monday to try and mediate in the escalation between Islamabad and New Delhi after last month’s deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

Abbas Araghchi's visit was the first by a foreign dignitary since tensions flared in the wake of the April 22 massacre of 26 tourists, which India blames on Pakistan. Tehran has offered to help ease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, said The Associated Press.

Pakistan's military has been on high alert after Cabinet Minister Attaullah Tarar cited credible intelligence indicating that India could attack. Pakistan has denied any role in the massacre of mostly Indian tourists, and offered to cooperate with a credible international investigation. India has so far not accepted the offer and several world leaders have urged both sides to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is due to meet with Araghchi, welcomed mediation to defuse the tensions with India. Since last week, Dar said he'd spoken to over a dozen foreign dignitaries, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“We will not be the first to take any escalatory step,” Dar said in Islamabad, but added that he had warned the international community that should there be “any act of aggression by India, Pakistan will resolutely defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

He accused the Indian air force of attempting to breach Pakistani airspace on April 28. Pakistan scrambled aircraft and forced Indian jets to turn back, he said. There was no immediate comment from India on those claims.

Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region and their ties have been shaped by conflict, aggressive diplomacy and mutual suspicion, mostly due to their competing claims over Kashmir.

The latest flare-up led the two countries to expel each other’s diplomats and nationals, as well as the shuttering of airspace.

On Monday, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar led a group of journalists to the mountain village of Bella Noor Shah, near Muzaffarabad — the main city in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir — where he said New Delhi had falsely claimed the presence of a militant training camp.

Residents of the village told reporters they had never seen any such camp in the area.

“It is clear there is no truth to the Indian claim,” Tarar said.

Also Monday, Pakistan’s military said it test-fired a short-range missile, the second such test launch after a medium-range missile on Saturday.

The military said that the Fatah surface-to-surface missile has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles) and was launched from an undisclosed location. Such missiles are never fired toward India, and usually end up reaching the Arabian Sea or the deserts of southern Balochistan province.