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.
American pro-Kremlin fighter and propagandist Russell Bentley in a photo posted on X on April 4, 2024. (Russell Bentley/X)
Russell Bentley, a pro-Kremlin American man who fought against Ukraine in 2014 and was killed under previously unknown circumstances in April, was tortured to death by Russian soldiers, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Sept. 20.
Concluding a preliminary investigation into the case, the committee accused Russian military service members Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrei Iordanov of taking part in the crime in various roles.
Bentley, who died at the age of 63-64, was a U.S. military veteran and self-identified supporter of Russian occupation forces in Ukraine.
Local occupation authorities claimed Bentley went missing on April 8 after a district in occupied Donetsk Oblast was shelled by Ukrainian troops. His wife reportedly told the Mash Telegram channel that he went to see if other residents needed help after the strikes and never returned.
Russia's investigative committee concluded that Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov tortured and killed Bentley in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine, on April 8. Vansyatsky and Agaltsev then allegedly detonated a car with his body the same day.
On April 9, Vansyatsky instructed Bazhin to cover up the crime by removing Bentley's remains from the scene, the investigators said. The statement did not name a possible motive for the alleged crime.
The committee submitted its conclusions to the court. The soldiers have been charged with abuse of power resulting in death, desecrating a body, and concealment of a crime.
Russia was actively recruiting and transporting foreign fighters to join Moscow-backed proxy forces in Donbas at the start of the war in 2014, heavily employing propaganda for that purpose.
Bentley, who was a self-described communist and spent five years in a U.S. prison for smuggling, said he had joined Russian proxy forces to fight "against fascism," reiterating Russian propaganda talking points about the "fascist-ruled" government in Kyiv.
The Texas native also launched his own YouTube channel and worked as a "war correspondent" for the Russian propaganda channel Sputnik.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Dinara Khalilova
