Europe

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: Officials in the Zaporozhye Region have suspended the reactors at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in an effort to prevent provocations by Ukrainian forces, the region’s interim governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Krym-24 television on Monday.

He said Ukrainian forces had started to dump water from the reservoirs.

"The water level [in the Kahovka reservoir] has risen to 17.08 [meters]. We understand it’s a manipulation. The nuclear reactors have been suspended. The fifth reactor is in hot standby," Balitsky said.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Monday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

It was reported earlier on Monday that Mirziyoyev had left for Moscow, at the invitation of the Russian president, to take part in the celebrations dedicated to the 78th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: The leaders of the CIS countries, who arrived in Moscow for Victory Day, will join Russian President Vladimir Putin to watch the parade from the stands on Red Square, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Rossiya-1 television on Monday.

The heads of state will then lay flowers and have an informal breakfast together, he said on the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin."

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive has proposed blacklisting several Chinese companies and curbing exports to nations seen as involved in bypassing Russia trade restrictions under new sanctions against Moscow for the war against Ukraine.

The 27 EU member countries - which must all agree for new sanctions to be enacted - will have a first discussion on Wednesday on the proposal by the European Commission's foreign policy unit, several diplomatic sources said on Monday.

KYIV, May 8 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy moved on Monday to formalise the day that Ukraine marks the allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two as May 8, aligning it with Western nations in a repudiation of the Soviet past quickly condemned by Moscow.

Speaking to Ukrainians on a hill overlooking Kyiv, Zelenskiy said "the old evil" had returned, this time waged by a "modern Russia" pursuing the same goal as the Nazis of "enslavement and destruction" - but that it would not succeed.

May 8 (Reuters) - Operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are being suspended in case of "provocations" by Ukrainian forces, the TASS state news agency said on Monday, citing the Moscow-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of the surrounding region.

Russia captured the plant in the early days of its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Ukraine is expected to start soon a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including potentially in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Russian authorities have begun evacuating people.

RIGA, May 8 (Reuters) - In a Stalinist skyscraper which dominates the skyline of Latvia's capital, dozens of elderly Russians wait to take a basic Latvian language test as a proof of loyalty to a country where they have lived for decades.

Clutching red Russian passports, the participants, mostly women, read their notes for last minute revision, fearing they may be expelled from the Baltic country if they fail.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron led the traditional ceremony on Paris’ Champs-Elysees Monday, commemorating the day that marked the end of World War II in Europe in 1945.

Flanked by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Macron laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe monument. A brass band played the Marseillaise.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia enacted a major security clampdown ahead of Tuesday’s annual commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, curbing the use of drones, jet skis and car-sharing services in its largest cities amid its 14-month war with Ukraine.

At least 21 Russian cities canceled May 9 military parades — the staple of Victory Day celebrations across Russia — for the first time in years, Russian media said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine air defenses shot down 35 Iranian-made drones over Kyiv in Russia’s latest nighttime assault, as attacks across Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces killed four civilians, officials said Monday.

The bombardments came as Moscow enforced tight security on the eve of traditional Red Square commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.