Ukraine

KYIV, May 8 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy moved on Monday to formalise the day that Ukraine marks the allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two as May 8, aligning it with Western nations in a repudiation of the Soviet past quickly condemned by Moscow.

Speaking to Ukrainians on a hill overlooking Kyiv, Zelenskiy said "the old evil" had returned, this time waged by a "modern Russia" pursuing the same goal as the Nazis of "enslavement and destruction" - but that it would not succeed.

May 8 (Reuters) - Operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are being suspended in case of "provocations" by Ukrainian forces, the TASS state news agency said on Monday, citing the Moscow-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of the surrounding region.

Russia captured the plant in the early days of its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Ukraine is expected to start soon a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including potentially in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Russian authorities have begun evacuating people.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia enacted a major security clampdown ahead of Tuesday’s annual commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, curbing the use of drones, jet skis and car-sharing services in its largest cities amid its 14-month war with Ukraine.

At least 21 Russian cities canceled May 9 military parades — the staple of Victory Day celebrations across Russia — for the first time in years, Russian media said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine air defenses shot down 35 Iranian-made drones over Kyiv in Russia’s latest nighttime assault, as attacks across Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces killed four civilians, officials said Monday.

The bombardments came as Moscow enforced tight security on the eve of traditional Red Square commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

KYIV, May 7 (Reuters) - Russian forces are evacuating residents from the town that serves the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainanian military said on Sunday.

Ukraine is expected to start soon a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Moscow-held territory, including in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In its morning update, Ukraine's General staff said Russian forces were evacuating local Russian passport-holders to the port city of Berdyansk and the town Prymorsk, both on the coast of the Sea of Azov.

KYIV, May 7 (Reuters) - Russia's Wagner mercenary group appeared on Sunday to ditch plans to withdraw from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, saying they had been promised more arms by Moscow and suggesting they may keep up their assault on what Russia sees as a stepping stone to other cities in the Donbas region.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian and Russian media reported explosions across Russian-occupied Crimea, and Russia's defence ministry said its air defences had detected and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea overnight.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog expressed growing anxiety about the safety of a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant near the front lines of fighting in Ukraine after the Moscow-installed governor of the area ordered the evacuation of the city where most plant staff live.

POTOMKYNE, Ukraine (AP) — A grassy lane rutted with tire tracks leads to Volodymyr Zaiets’ farm in southern Ukraine. He is careful, driving only within those shallow grooves — veering away might cost him his life in the field dotted with explosive mines.

Weeds grow tall where rows of sunflowers once bloomed. Zaiets’ land hasn’t been touched since the fall of 2021, when it was last seeded with wheat. Now, it’s a minefield left by retreating Russian forces.

KYIV, May 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine on Saturday hailed the return of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv, but neither side gave a full account of the apparent prisoner swap.

The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.

Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.