Traditional Victory Day military parades planned for May 9 in Russian-occupied Crimea have been cancelled, Newsweek reported on April 15, 2023, as Kyiv prepares for an expected counteroffensive.
“Crimea is already a battlefield”
Ukrainian official Denys Chistikov called the cancellation “another security measure,” which he said showed that the Russian-installed authorities in Crimea did not fully control the situation. “Crimea is already a battlefield,” he said.
Tamila Tasheva, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s permanent representative in Crimea, said the parades had been cancelled because officials “cannot provide security” on the peninsula.
Drones and sabotage
Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, has come under repeated drone attacks and suffered explosions at military sites since the full-scale invasion began. The Kerch Bridge linking the peninsula to Russia was damaged by a blast in October 2022.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said that the liberation of Crimea is one of Kyiv’s goals, and Russia has been building fortifications in the north of the peninsula and in occupied southern Ukraine ahead of the expected counteroffensive.
May 9 in Russia
Victory Day, marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, is one of Russia’s most important public holidays and a centrepiece of Kremlin propaganda. Newsweek said it had contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Sources
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