Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said. "I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms."
"We have a plan B and a plan C. But our focus is plan A, the essence of which is to get everyone's support" for Ukraine's accession, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"(T)he presence at the Victory Parade of a country that bombs cities, hospitals, and daycares, and which has caused the deaths and injuries of over a million people over three years, is a shame," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"I have great hope that an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine will be reached this weekend," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 9, shortly before traveling to Kyiv alongside the leaders of France, Poland, and the U.K.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in Kyiv early on May 10.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days, despite Putin's self-declared Victory Day "truce."
The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Battalion 120 territorial defence take part training exercises near the Belarus border as the war between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for the last two years in Chernobyl, Ukraine on March 16, 2024. (Gian Marco Benedetto/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A further 160,000 people are to be drafted into the Ukrainian armed forces, which will raise the manning of units to 85%, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko said on Oct. 29 during a session of the Ukrainian parliament.
Ukraine's parliament adopted an updated mobilization law in mid-April to ramp up mobilization amid Russia's ongoing war. The new law simplifies the process for identifying eligible conscripts and includes additional penalties for those dodging the draft.
According to Lytvynenko, 1,000,050 citizens have been drafted into the military so far since the beginning of martial law.
Ukraine has been struggling to mobilize enough soldiers for the front line to compensate for troop casualties and the need to rotate soldiers who have been fighting since the onset of the full-scale war.
From May 18 to July 16, 4,690,496 military-aged men updated their data by the July 17 deadline, according to the Defense Ministry.
Nearly one million people were eligible for exemption in mid-August, according to the Defense Ministry.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in early April that he ordered relevant ministries to introduce "updated, more fair" rules on exempting employees of "critically important" companies from military service.
Employees in "strategically important sectors of the economy" will be able to extend their exemption from military conscription, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers announced on Oct. 26.
