KYIV, May 9 — Russia has forgotten everything that mattered to the victors of World War II, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, a day before Moscow commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany.

Denouncing Russia’s heavy shelling in the east of the country including one strike on a school that he says killed 60 people, he added: "Russia has forgotten everything that was important to the victors of World War II.”

While normal people associated the anniversary with peace and the slogan "Never again!”, Russia was continuing its attacks, said Zelensky in his nightly address.

"As a result of the Russian air strike on Bilogorivka of the Lugansk region, about 60 people were killed,” he added.

"Civilians who simply hid in the school from the shelling. It was a targeted blow to the school. Another crime of the occupiers.”

"I am sure that today Ukraine has shown that we are already a full-fledged part of the free world and a united Europe.”

Russia will today mark the 77th anniversary since victory in what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War.

Thousands of soldiers will march across the Red Square in Moscow followed by tanks, armoured vehicles and missile launchers. — AFP