US embassy in Kyiv warns of potential mass attack amid Putin's Victory Day 'truce'

The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days and urged U.S. citizens to prepare to take shelter immediately in the event of an aerial alert.

The warning comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's self-declared "Victory Day truce," a ceasefire the Kremlin claimed would last from midnight on May 8 to midnight on May 11 in honor of Russia's May 9 celebrations.

"The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days," the embassy announced on its website.

"The Embassy, as always, recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."

The embassy has previously issued similar warnings as part of its standard security protocols.

While the temporary ceasefire has ostensibly already begun, Russia has continued to launch deadly attacks against civilians in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has also reported that combat operations on the front lines have not stopped.

Similarly, Moscow's unilateral "Easter truce" was a ceasefire in name only, as Russia violated its own terms thousands of times.

President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Putin's latest ceasefire declaration as a "theatrical performance" and reiterated calls for a full, unconditional truce.

U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 called for a "30-day unconditional ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia — a proposal Kyiv first assented to back in March. Moscow has repeatedly refused these terms, insisting Ukraine halt all military aid before agreeing to a full ceasefire.

The U.S. and European allies are in the final stages of developing a proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, Reuters reported on May 9.

‘The enemy is right here’ — how Ukrainians living under Russian occupation defied Putin’s ‘Victory Day’

Editor’s Note: The identities of Yellow Ribbon activists who live in Russian-occupied territory have been withheld for security reasons. “When my child hears about May 9 they almost scream, and so do I,” an activist with the Ukrainian Yellow Ribbon civil resistance group currently living in the Russian-occupied town of Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, tells the Kyiv Independent. “Every week at school, from the very beginning of the semester, my kid has to do something about May 9,’” “We have le

The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk