LIVE: Russia Marks WWII Victory With Military Parade

Russia marks 80th anniversary of Victory Day with a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. Alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin, it is anticipated that the leaders of Kazakhstan, Laos, Guinea-Bissau, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Cuba will attend the parade.

Hopes that President Putin will agree to voluntarily end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a result of peace negotiations are a “big illusion”, a top adviser to President Zelensky has said.

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/putin-would-face-a-revolt-if-he-halted-war-machine-w2rbc8h9q

“It is impossible to hold rational talks with Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior member of Zelensky’s team in Kyiv since 2020, told The Times.

Russia “cannot, does not want to and will not” stop fighting in Ukraine unless it is forced to by economic sanctions and strikes on its military infrastructure, Podolyak said. “All the talk about how it is possible to have negotiations with Russia and to agree on something pragmatically and rationally are just an illusion, one big illusion.”

His comments come after senior members of President Trump’s administration signalled that talks with Russia aimed at bringing peace to Ukraine were going nowhere. JD Vance, the US vice-president, said this week that Russia was “asking for too much”, while Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state and national security adviser, has said Kyiv and Moscow are “still far apart” and that Trump could “move on”. Trump also said recently that he was “pissed off” with Putin.

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