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.
Naftogaz CEO Oleksii Chernyshov, gives an interview with Ukrainian news media on Nov. 29, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Between 200,000 and 500,000 men could leave Ukraine after the war with Russia ends and all travel restrictions are lifted, Deputy Prime Minister and National Unity Minister Oleksii Chernyshov said on March 12.
Draft-age men are not permitted to leave Ukraine under martial law, which was instituted at the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, without a special permission.
Speaking at a press briefing attended by the Kyiv Independent, Chernyshov stressed the demographic challenges facing Ukraine in the fourth year of the full-scale war.
A January report by the National Bank of Ukraine estimated the net outflow of migrants from Ukraine at 200,000 this year and up to 500,000 in 2027.
Some 32 million people live in Ukraine-controlled territories, Chernyshov said. Roughly 5 million Ukrainian refugees remain abroad under the temporary protection of host countries, while millions more live in Russian-occupied parts of the country.
The minister estimated that only roughly 30% of the Ukrainians living abroad may return within the year after the war's potential end. Another 30% may not return at all, he added.
Discussions about peace are gaining ground as the U.S. and Ukraine recently agreed on a temporary ceasefire, which they presented as a step toward a broader peace agreement with Russia.
Demographic trends do not work in Ukraine's favor either. For every 150,000 Ukrainian children born in a year, 450,000 die in the same period, a figure excluding war-related deaths, according to the minister.
This complicates an already dire situation in Ukraine's labor market. Ukraine currently lacks more than 4.5 million workers, Chernyshov said.
Alisa Yurchenko
