Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on the evening of May 4 that Vladimir Putin had ordered a “ceasefire in honor of the Victory Day celebrations” on May 8 and 9. “We expect the Ukrainian side to follow this example,” the ministry said, warning that if Ukraine attempted to disrupt the celebrations, Russian armed forces would “deliver a retaliatory, massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv.”

“Russia, despite having the capability, has refrained from such actions out of humanitarian considerations. We warn the civilian population of Kyiv and the staff of foreign diplomatic missions of the need to leave the city in a timely manner,” the Defense Ministry stated.

The ministry grounded its threat in a statement attributed to Volodymyr Zelensky, who, according to Moscow, told the summit of the European Political Community in Yerevan that Ukraine could strike Moscow with drones on May 9. That quote circulated on May 4 in Russian and Ukrainian media. Video of Zelensky’s remarks later emerged showing he had actually said something different. In the video, Zelensky said that Russia had announced it would hold its May 9 parade in Moscow without military hardware, and that if that happened, it would be the first time in many, many years that they could not afford military hardware. He added that they feared drones might fly over Red Square, and that this showed they were not strong right now.

Shortly after the Defense Ministry’s statement, Zelensky announced a “silence regime” to take effect at midnight on May 6, saying Ukraine had received no official communications regarding the format of a ceasefire of the kind being announced on Russian social media.

“We consider human life to be incomparably more valuable than the ‘celebration’ of any anniversary. We are therefore announcing a silence regime beginning at 00:00 on the night of May 5 to 6. The time remaining before that moment is realistically sufficient to bring about quiet. We will act in kind from that moment on. It is time for Russia’s leaders to take real steps to end their war, if Russia’s Defense Ministry already believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill,” Zelensky wrote in his Telegram channel.

The idea of a Victory Day ceasefire had been floated on April 29, following a phone call between Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the proposal came from Putin; Trump claimed it was his idea. Zelensky said he had instructed his representatives to contact the U.S. president’s team and learn the details of Russia’s ceasefire proposal for the Victory Day period. Dmitry Peskov later said Russia intended to halt hostilities regardless of whether Ukraine agreed or refused.

On April 28, the Defense Ministry announced that the Victory Parade on Red Square would take place without a column of military hardware. Cadets from Suvorov military schools, the Nakhimov naval academy, and cadet corps would also not participate. The last time the Victory Parade in Moscow was held without military hardware was in 2007. The Kremlin attributed the decision to hold the 2026 parade in a “scaled-back format” to the operational situation.

Within hours of both Moscow and Kyiv announcing plans to temporarily halt fighting, the two sides attacked each other. Missile alerts were declared across more than 15 regions of Russia, and Cheboksary came under a drone attack. In Ukraine, a Russian strike on the Poltava Region killed four people and wounded more than 30.