Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Victory Day ceasefire

The celebrations used to bring large numbers of foreign guests to Moscow, but this time only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia and Laos, and a few other dignitaries, will attend.Getty ImagesThere will be no military hardware at the parade, only soldiersIn a post on Telegram on Friday morning, the Russian defence ministry said there had been 1,365 violations of the ceasefire, including 153 artillery strikes and 887 drone strikes in the conflict zone.It said Ukraine was also continuing to strike civilian targets in border areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions, close to the conflict zone.Russian armed forces provided a "mirror response" to the violations, the ministry added.Meanwhile Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said some 20 drones had been downed near the city in just the first two hours of the ceasefire.Ukrainian strikes were also reported on industrial sites in the Perm and Yaroslavl regions, as well as sites in the Rostov region and the Chechen capital Grozny. Thirteen airports in southern Russia also suspended operations after a drone attack.ReutersUkraine said Russia had ignored its proposal of a ceasefire starting 6 MayUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on Telegram that there had been more than 140 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the first few hours of the truce, and more than 850 drone strikes."All of this clearly indicates that there was not even a simulated attempt from the Russian side to cease fire at the front," he said. "Just like in the results of the past day, Ukraine will act in kind today."On Thursday Ukraine accused Russia of breaching Kyiv's unilateral ceasefire, launching drone attacks, including on a kindergarten in Sumy region. Two people were killed in that attack, although no children were present at the time.The war of words over ceasefires came after European Council President António Costa said he thought there was "potential" for the EU to negotiate with Russia over ending the war, and said they had Zelensky's backing to do so."I'm talking with the [EU's] 27 national leaders to see the best way to organise ourselves and to identify what we need effectively to discuss with Russia when it comes to the right moment to do this," he said in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday."We cannot change the geography. We are in Europe, we are neighbours of Russia, and of course we need to talk with them about the future of the security architecture of Europe," he added.