"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.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) in Antalya, Turkiye on March 2, 2024. (Mehmet Emin Menguarslan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Armenia is considering applying for membership in the European Union, aiming to strengthen ties with Western countries amid growing tensions with Russia, Armenia's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan revealed in an interview on March 9.
"Many new opportunities are largely being discussed in Armenia nowadays and that will not be a secret if I say that includes membership in the European Union," Mirzoyan said in an interview with Turkish TV channel TRT World.
Traditionally aligned with Russia in its regional conflict against Azerbaijan, Armenia has experienced heightened tensions with Russia after Russian "peacekeepers" did nothing to prevent Azerbaijan's September 2023 offensive into Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan said in February that Armenia had "frozen" its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) because it failed to uphold its objectives regarding Armenia.
The CSTO did not intervene during Azerbaijan's offensive in September 2023.
Since coming to power in a 2018 revolution, the government of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has steadily deepened the country's ties with the West while drawing condemnation from Russia.
Pashinyan and other Armenian officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of being an unreliable partner and sought to foster security ties with other countries, such as France, the U.S., or India.
In January 2023, Armenia joined the International Criminal Court becoming one of 124 countries obligedto arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he steps foot in national territory. The Kremlin decried the move as an "unfriendly step" and "the wrong decision."
Earlier this week, Armenia asked Russian "peacekeepers" who have been stationed at Yerevan's international airport since the country's independence to leave.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Nate Ostiller
