On Monday, May 4, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced a “truce” for May 8-9 to celebrate the “victory of the Soviet people” (over Nazi Germany) in World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there was no official statement from Moscow.
He is not the only one skeptical about Moscow's proposed ceasefire. — I believe that all these proposals from the Kremlin [dotyczące zawieszenia broni przed Dniem Zwycięstwa obchodzonym w Rosji 9 maja] it's a farce. Russia, as of 2014, has never once respected this regime of silence that it itself proposed or tried to impose. That's why I think that nothing will come of it this time, says Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Kashchenko in a conversation with the creators of “Ukrainian focus. Morning”, a joint project of the Espreso and Slava.tv websites.
— Nevertheless, I think I know why [Rosja] it does. Putin wants to show that “we have a holiday, we proposed a ceasefire, and look, Ukraine did not react.” And I am more than sure that there will be provocations, and those to which we will be unable not to respond. And this will be a kind of pretext to show: “Look, they are violating [zawieszenie broni] first.” That's why I think it's a farce, continues the colonel.
The military also answered whether he was worried about the consequences of potential false Ukrainian drone attacks on targets in Moscow (before and during the Victory Day celebrations). — [Takie prowokacje] are possible. Ukraine has proven many times that it reaches all the way to Moscow. And we see how many air defense assets are now concentrated around it, he says, adding that paradoxically, Ukraine can take advantage of this situation.
“It can be useful to us if we use it properly. Due to the fact that Russia moved quite a large number of air defense systems to the Moscow area, it left some areas unprotected. I think that currently there is quite a serious gap in the defense line of the Russian Federation, and more than one. We may, in the next few days, during the preparations for the parade and the parade itself, strike a few blows at some command posts, as well as at supply depots and so on. To significantly disrupt the enemy's logistics and disable his command system. Or at least disrupt it, he explains.
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At the same time, the colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces does not see the need to intensively attack Moscow itself. According to him, it is better to use weapons and ammunition in a different way, because Ukraine does not have too many of them.
– Well, if we had as many means of destruction as, for example, Russia itself has, we could attack even Red Square [w Moskwie opodal Kremla]. But we have limited resources, so I think that from a military point of view it would be more prudent to use them precisely. That is, if we have missiles, they should hit command posts, radar stations, ammunition depots, key infrastructure facilities. These are the objects that should be destroyed, says the military.
Nevertheless, Dmytro Kashchenko does not rule out carrying out drone attacks during the May 9 parade to show that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are reaching Moscow.
— Such a parade is a gathering of people and cameras, and therefore, a broadcast to the whole world. You could play it up like we did, driving into the Kursk Oblast to show the world that we can do it and that things aren't as smooth in Russia as they claim. That is, a drone strike could be carried out so that the thousands of cameras and cameras that will be recording the parade will show “Look, Ukraine is getting closer to you and at any moment it can destroy both the president of Russia [Władimira Putina]as well as the Minister of Defense [Andrieja Biełusowa]” – sums up.
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