Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a decree “allowing” Russia’s Victory Day military parade to proceed, ensuring no weapons are aimed at Red Square. The move came after Ukraine and Russia confirmed a three-day ceasefire from 9 to 11 May. In what may have been a partly tongue-in-cheek announcement, Zelenskyy said: “I hereby decree: to permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation) on May 9, 2026.” The decree added that “the territorial sector of Red Square shall be excluded” from the planned deployment of Ukrainian weaponry.
A large forest fire was burning through the Chornobyl exclusion zone on Friday after a drone crash near the defunct nuclear plant the previous day, Ukrainian authorities said. Radiation levels were within normal limits, and firefighters were working to contain the blaze. The fire broke out on Thursday “as a result of a drone crash”, but the origin of the drone was not stated. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of attacking its nuclear sites, including the Chornobyl complex.
Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Friday that it struck a Lukoil-owned refinery in Russia’s city of Perm for the second day in a row, setting fire to a key facility for primary oil processing. The SBU also struck an oil pumping station in the area, damaging one of the reservoirs. Zelenskyy hailed a Ukrainian strike on a Russian oil depot in the Yaroslavl region. At least 13 airports in southern Russia were closed on Friday due to the threat of a Ukrainian attack.
Zelenskyy on Friday said he visited the frontline in south-eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s troops had regained control over small chunks of land. “Despite the announced ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of its assaults,” he said. The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken control of the village of Kryva Luka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine is running short of air defence missiles after Russia’s massive winter attack campaign, the air force said on Friday. “Today, the launchers assigned to certain units and batteries are half-empty – and that’s putting it mildly,” said spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat. Ukraine makes its own systems to down long-range Russian drones but remains heavily dependent on foreign kit for missile interception, with the US Patriot system also used extensively in the US-Israeli war in Iran.
Russia has increasingly focused its aerial attacks on small Ukrainian power substations, with increased drone capacity allowing it to disrupt Ukraine’s grid over the past winter more than ever, according to the Centre for Information Resilience. Ukraine’s energy sector has suffered about $25bn worth of damage.
