German parliament president arrives in Kyiv

In Russia, Victory Day on May 9 is one of the country's most important national events - a remembrance of the enormous sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.

The president of the German parliament Baerbel Bas arrived in Kyiv on Sunday to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the prime minister and to commemorate victims of World War Two, a German parliament official said on Twitter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier gave an emotional address for Victory Day, when Europe remembers the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two, saying that "evil has returned" to Ukraine, but it wouldn't be able to escape responsibility. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to take part in a G7 virtual discussion later on Sunday on the war in Ukraine that will be attended by Zelenskiy.

Ahead of the G7 meeting Enrico Brissa, Bundestag's chief of protocol, posted on Twitter pictures of Bas arriving by train to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Germany has agreed to supply Kyiv with heavy weapons, including self-propelled howitzers, in a reversal of a longtime policy not to send heavy weapons to war zones due to the country's Nazi past.

Moscow calls its actions since Feb. 24 a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and rid it of what it calls "Nazis" and anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. In Russia, Victory Day on May 9 is one of the country's most important national events - a remembrance of the enormous sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.