President Vladimir Putin has stated that former French military personnel are currently fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Speaking Wednesday at a forum in Moscow, the Russian leader claimed that these fighters have formed a unit named “Normandia-Niemen”—a reference to the historic French-Soviet regiment of World War II.

Russian forces have significantly increased the intensity of their combat activity in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine's top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.