Ukraine never said it would abide by Moscow’s call to halt strikes and lambasted Russian leader Vladimir Putin for only wanting to pause fighting so he could stage a grand parade on Red Square on Saturday.
Kyiv said Moscow ignored a Ukrainian proposal to halt fighting earlier this week – a counter-offer for a short-term ceasefire that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast as a test of whether the Kremlin was serious about providing a brief respite in the four-year war.
Russia has threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if it disrupts the Victory Day parade on Saturday, repeatedly urging foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of time.
On the streets of Kyiv, some brushed off the Russian threats.
“Nothing new will happen,” Vasyl Kobzar, a 40-year-old bank employee, told AFP. “I’m worried, but it’s become routine, unfortunately.”
Engineer Viktoria Dorofeeva, 30, said she had no plans to leave the city.
“I’ll just go to a shelter; that’s the most I’ll do. If we don’t strike, they’ll strike anyway.”
Ukrainian officials told AFP there had been no orders for additional security measures to be taken so far.
“We’re just giving (the Russians) the finger,” one lawmaker, speaking anonymously, said.
