"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.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
Kaja High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks to the press as she arrives for the start of a European Union Summit at the Europa Building Forum in Brussels on March 20, 2025. (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images)
The EU is working on providing Ukraine with 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) for ammunition, top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said on March 20, as a much larger 40-billion-euro ($43 billion) package still lacks consensus.
Speaking to journalists ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Kallas called the 5-billion-euro tranche a "realistic plan" that is currently under discussion.
Additional European assistance is ever more crucial for Kyiv now as future support from the U.S., the leading military donor, grows increasingly uncertain under President Donald Trump.
The sum of 5 billion euros for purchasing 2 million large-caliber ammunition rounds is seen as a first step that could be achieved before a possible consensus on the more significant tranche.
EU officials have been discussing ways to move the bigger package forward, including basing contributions on consent to avoid a likely veto by Hungary, the bloc's most Russian-friendly country.
The contributions are to be based on each member state's gross national income (GNI), which has also become a key sticking point in the discussions.
"Some countries have done more, and some countries are bigger economies," Kallas said.
Some of the EU's smaller members, such as Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, or Latvia, have committed considerably greater shares of their national GDP to support Ukraine than some larger economies like France, Spain, or Italy.
"In the short term, we have to support Ukraine, and it's absolutely obvious that Ukraine needs our military assistance; Ukraine needs ammunition, long-range missiles, and we are ready to provide it," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said after arriving at the summit.
European leaders have gathered for a two-day summit in Brussels to discuss support for Ukraine and ways to boost defense spending. President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to deliver an online address to the summit on March 20.
Martin Fornusek
