"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.
Ukrainian military vehicles driving past the border crossing point into Russia's Kursk Oblast from neighboring Sumy Oblast on August 13, 2024. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
Alexey Smirnov, the acting governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast, ordered the mandatory evacuation of the town of Glushkovo on Aug. 14 amid Ukraine's ongoing incursion into the area.
Ukraine's unprecedented operation, ongoing since last week, seems to have taken Russia by surprise, as Kyiv says its forces seized control of 74 settlements and over 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of land after they broke through the weakly defended border.
The evacuation of Glushkovo, which Smirnov said will be assisted by the military and law enforcement, and the help of local volunteers, is the latest town whose residents were ordered to leave.
Two days earlier, Smirnov said that 121,000 people had been evacuated or left Kursk Oblast on their own. He added that authorities are planning to evacuate 180,000 people from the region.
Glushkovo is located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Ukrainian border and 68 kilometers (42 miles) northwest of the Russian town of Sudzha.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, said on Aug. 13 that the incursion aims to prevent Moscow from sending reinforcements to the front in Donetsk Oblast.
It is also designed to disrupt Russian logistics and halt cross-border attacks in lieu of Ukraine's long-range strikes with Western arms, which remain under unofficial restrictions from partners.
Oleg Sukhov
