Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on May 9 slammed foreign leaders attending Russian President Vladimir Putin's Victory Day celebrations as Russia wages its war against Ukraine.
"I have no doubt that being present at the victory parade in Moscow and applauding President Putin, who says he will continue to cleanse Ukraine of Nazism, is a shame for everyone who is present there and pretends not to see the truth," Tusk said.
Tusk, alongside leaders from France, Germany, and the U.K., will visit Kyiv on May 10 in a show of support for Ukraine. Many European leaders boycotted Russia's Victory Day celebrations, but Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico attended.
Tusk denounced foreign leaders attending Moscow's Victory Day celebrations despite Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are among the notable guests present at Putin's request.
"Therefore, the presence at the victory parade of a country that bombs cities, hospitals, and daycares, and which has caused the deaths and injuries of over a million people over three years, is a shame," Tusk told reporters alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Nancy, France.
Tusk, alongside Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and newly elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, are set to arrive in Kyiv on May 10 to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In protest of Russia's "immortal regiment" and its Victory Day celebrations, demonstrators have been holding street performances since May 4, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent on May 9.
"The series of actions took place under the name 'Death Regiment,' as the antithesis of Putin's propaganda campaign, 'Immortal Regiment,'" the source said.
Russia tries to use Victory Day celebrations as a historical justification for its ongoing war against Ukraine.
Uria Fancelli
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