The Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed Putin is planning to end the war on May 9
Russia holds an extravagant victory day parade in Moscow every year on May 9
It marks the day Nazi Germany surrendered, bringing World War Two to an end
Armed Forces also claimed medical institutions are filled by Russian servicemen
By STEPHEN WYNN-DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE
25 March 2022
Vladimir Putin has already declared the 'end' of the war in Ukraine, officials in Kyiv have claimed, matching the same date Russia celebrates defeating the Nazis in World War Two.
The general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian propaganda 'imposes the idea that the war must be completed before the 9th of May 2022'.
Russia holds an extravagant victory day parade in Moscow's Red Square on that date every year to mark Nazi Germany's surrender and the end of the Second World War.
In a Facebook post, the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said: 'According to the available information, among the personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, propaganda work is constantly being carried out, which imposes the idea that the war must be completed before the 9th of May 2022.'
They also claimed Russia's medical institutions, set up in territory close to the border with Ukraine, are 'occupied by wounded servicemen of the Russian Federation who took part in the war against Ukraine and encountered units of the defence forces in combat'.
Pictured: Servicewomen march in formation during a dress rehearsal of a Victory Day military parade marking the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow's Red Square, May 7, 2021
Pictured: Russian military planes fly over Red Square leaving trails of smoke in colours of national flag during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021
The Ukrainian armed forces post added: 'As a matter of urgency, the enemy is taking measures to renew the combat capability of the air units of the airborne troops, which had suffered critical losses both in manpower and military equipment.'
The Ukrainian armed forces said Russian occupants are facing 'enormous difficulties' in Ukrainian towns and cities and 'do not have the support from the local population'.
They claimed that, in Crimea, a Russian brigade held a ceremony for 100 deceased members of the unit. They said similar scenes have been seen in the city of Sevastopol where they claimed marines in the Black Sea fleet have been killed.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces update said Russian troops had set up a 'filtration camp' in Dokuchaivsk, in the Donetsk region, for civilians who attempt to flee the besieged city of Mariupol.
They claimed people have been forced to evacuate Kreminna and Rubizhne before being deported to the Voronezh region and that tractors are being seized from farmers in the Chernihiv region, while Ukrainian troops carried out artillery fire on a Russian tank regiment in the Kharviv region.
Russia's huge Second World War victory celebration is held every year, a day after Western Europe celebrates VE Day on May 8 due to the time difference between Russia and other Soviet Bloc countries, and Central European Time.
Victory Day in Russia is a national holiday, closing most public offices, schools and businesses, and due to other more Pro-Russian countries broadcasting the Russian president's victory day speech, the event is one of the world's most watched occasions of the year.
In 2020, the event was postponed until later in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite it being the significant 75th anniversary of the Nazi surrender in 1945, at 23:01 Central European Time.
For Moscow, which is on Moscow Standard Time, the end to the war in Europe came past midnight, meaning the country celebrates a day later.
Putin ordered for the 2020 event to go ahead on June 24, using around 14,000 soldiers that had already had coronavirus, and thus had developed immunity against the virus.
In 2021, the event went ahead as usual despite Russia recording at least 8,000 new infections daily at the time.
A man flees with his belongings as fire engulfs a vehicle and building following artillery fire on the 30th day on the invasion of the Ukraine by Russian forces in the northeastern city of Kharkiv
Civilians flee from the city of Kharkiv, in north east Ukraine, against the backdrop of a burning vehicle which was destroyed by Russian shelling attacks on Friday
Firefighters battle a blaze in Kharkiv, north-east Ukraine, after the city was hit by shelling in the early hours of Friday - hitting a humanitarian aid centre which killed at least four people
With Russian advances at a standstill across Ukraine, Kyiv's men are increasingly looking to go on the counter-attack - striking to the west and east of Kyiv, attacking Kherson from Mykolaiv, and trying to blunt a Russian pincer movement to encircle troops in the Donbass at Malynivka and Izyum
Russia's war in Ukraine - intended to be a days-long military mission to decapitate the government and bring the country back under Moscow's influence - is now grinding into its second month with huge losses for both sides.
About 300 people were killed in a Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a Mariupol theater, Ukrainian authorities said Friday, in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet.
In an attempt to protect the hundreds of people taking cover inside the theater, 'CHILDREN' in Russian had been printed in huge white letters on the ground in two places outside the grand, columned building to make it visible from the air.
For days, the government in the besieged and ruined city of Mariupol was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 attack.
In announcing the death toll on its Telegram channel Friday, it cited eyewitnesses. But it was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theater or how witnesses arrived at the figure.
Still, the emerging picture is certain to fuel allegations Moscow has committed war crimes by killing civilians, whether deliberately or by indiscriminate fire. And it could increase pressure on NATO to step up military aid.
The alliance has refused so far to supply warplanes or establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine for fear of getting into a war with Russia.
Russian armoured vehicles unload troops on the outskirts of Mariupol as the city falls further into Moscow's hands
Russian forces are pictured rolling into Mariupol as civilians file out, after the city was largely destroyed by bombardment
A Russian armoured vehicle with a 'Z' invasion symbol painted on the front is seen driving into Mariupol, as large parts of the city fall under the control of Putin's forces
Counter-attacks continue to the east and west of Kyiv, with the village of Lukyanivka back in Ukrainian hands on Friday morning while heavy fighting has been reported at Borodyanka as Kyiv's men try to encircle Russian troops there
It comes as Vladimir Putin today accused the West of trying to cancel Russia during an extraordinary rant amidst the faltering war in Ukraine.
The US, EU and UK have hammered Russia with sanctions in the wake of Putin's attack on Ukraine - cutting it off from banking systems and trade - while Western brands withdraw leaving his economy in tatters.
But Putin took take particular ire with the decision of some Western institutions to remove works by Russian artists, authors and composers in response to the war.
In Ukrainian towns and cities that day by day increasingly resemble the ruins that Russian forces left behind in its campaigns in Syria and Chechnya, the misery for civilians grows ever more acute.
In the capital, Kyiv, ashes of the dead are piling up at the main crematorium because so many relatives have left, leaving urns unclaimed. The besieged northern city of Chernihiv is now all but cut off.
Chernihiv first lost its main road bridge over the Desna River to a Russian airstrike this week. Follow-up shelling damaged a pedestrian bridge, trapping remaining inhabitants inside the city without power, water and heat, authorities said. More than half of Chernihiv's pre-war population of 285,000 is thought to have fled.
For the vulnerable - the elderly, children and others unable to join millions heading westward - food shortages loom in a country once known as the breadbasket for the world.
In relentlessly shelled Kharkiv, mostly elderly women lined up stoically to collect food and other urgent supplies this week, as explosions thudded in the distance. Fidgeting with anticipation, a young girl watched as a volunteer's knife cut through a giant slab of cheese, carving out thick slices, one for each hungry person.
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