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The “president” of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, has once again threatened the leaders of the so-called “Global South” who plan to visit Moscow to attend the Victory Day military parade in Red Square on May 9. Xi Jinping of China, Lula of Brazil, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Díaz-Canel of Cuba, Lukashenko of Belarus, Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia, To Lam of Vietnam, Traoré of Burkina Faso, and Fico of Slovakia are among the heads of state expected to be present at the celebrations.

In statements to the Ukrainian press on Saturday (03), after being asked about the visit of Xi Jinping and other heads of state to Russia this week, Zelensky responded that he “cannot be responsible” for what might happen to them on Russian territory during the celebrations of the defeat of Nazism in World War II. “They (Russians) provide you with safety and so we will not give you any guarantees,” he added.

Zelensky – whose term expired in mid-2024 and who has benefited from the indefinite postponement of elections – also stated that foreign leaders (whom he did not name) had asked him about security issues regarding their trip to Moscow this week. He said he told these leaders that Kiev cannot be held responsible for what might occur. He also announced that his country will not take responsibility if arson or explosions occur in Moscow on the day of the military parade.

This was the second time the actor-turned-politician has made threatening insinuations regarding Moscow’s security during the 80th anniversary commemorations of the victory over Nazi Germany. Last Tuesday, he commented that Russia is “worried that their parade is in jeopardy, and rightly so.”

While Zelensky makes veiled threats, others in his circle do so openly. On Wednesday, Supreme Rada deputy Yuri Pavlenko said in an interview with a Ukrainian outlet: “I think the time will come when we will strike Red Square – whether it happens this May 9 or sometime later, that time will come.” He justified possible attacks by saying that the Russian capital is full of “legitimate military targets (…) that have brought much grief to Ukrainian soil.”

At the end of April, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, had announced a complete unilateral ceasefire for May 8, 9, 10, and 11 – holidays in Russia to commemorate the victory of the Red Army and the Soviet people over Hitler’s Nazis, marked by the raising of the Soviet Union’s flag over the Reichstag on May 9, 1945. This will be the third truce – the second on a full scale – in less than two months. First, the Russians imposed a moratorium on attacks against energy infrastructure under Ukrainian control from March 18 to April 18 (a suspension that was not reciprocated by Kiev). Then, Moscow took the initiative to declare an Easter ceasefire (which, this time, was officially complied by the Ukrainians, despite them having violated the agreement numerous times, according to Russian reports).

Now, the Ukrainian regime has refused to follow the ceasefire announced by Russia for the Victory Day celebrations. “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,” Zelensky said on Saturday.

By refusing to adhere to the ceasefire on the most important date of the post-Soviet calendar, Zelensky shows that he places no value on May 9. In fact, since the Euromaidan coup at the end of 2013, the dictatorship established in Kiev has sought to erase any trace of the Ukrainian people’s memory of what they and the Russians always called the “Great Patriotic War.”

According to the regime, it was not the Ukrainian people, together with the Russian people, who defeated Nazism. It was the United States, with the support of Great Britain. Nazism, in fact, was not even considered the great evil, according to the new government propaganda. The true evil was the Soviet Union, which oppressed Ukrainians. German Nazism, on the contrary, occupied Ukraine to liberate it from communist rule.

It is no surprise that this is the version upheld by the current Ukrainian regime. After all, it is a descendant of the puppet government that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. At the forefront of the Euromaidan coup were the neo-Nazi parties, militias, and groups (Azov Battalion, Pravy Sektor, Svoboda) inspired by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists of Stepan Bandera and Andrey Melnyk. The new Ukrainian Nazis rose to prominent positions in the new regime, becoming ministers, deputies, governors, and mayors. They also took control of police and military forces, which absorbed the paramilitary groups – although the militias continue to operate in political repression and freely display their symbols in the streets, while leftist parties and organizations have been banned.

The birthdays of Melnyk, Bandera, and other collaborators of the Nazi occupation of Ukraine in the 1940s are celebrated annually by Ukrainian authorities. Statues, monuments, squares, streets, and avenues have been named in their honor. Naturally, they did exactly what the current authorities in Kiev have been trying to do for almost 12 years: persecute, imprison, mass murder, and terrorize ethnic Russians, Jews, and Poles, as well as communists and anti-fascists who were their political opponents.

Accepting the ceasefire announced by Putin during the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Victory would be virtually an acknowledgment that it was the Soviets, led by the Russians and the anti-fascist guerrillas, who liberated Ukraine from Nazi occupation. And that this occupation was supported by the idols who inspire the current regime in Kiev. It would legitimize celebrations that many Ukrainians are now forbidden from holding, recalling the role of the Red Army. Celebrating May 9 together with the Russian people could call into question the Zelensky government, already extremely unpopular and discredited.