"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.
Seventy-four drones were shot down on approach to Moscow in the early hours of March 11, authorities claimed, marking the largest drone attack against Russia's capital during the full-scale war.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its forces had intercepted a massive strike of 337 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions, including 91 over Moscow Oblast, 126 over Kursk Oblast, 38 over Bryansk Oblast, and others over the Belgorod, Ryazan, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Oryol, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
This is the largest number of drones launched against Russia in a single attack during the entire full-scale war.
The strike took place as Ukrainian and U.S. delegations are about to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss possible peace terms with Russia. Ukrainian officials are reportedly planning to propose a partial truce that would extend to aerial strikes and naval operations.
"Emergency services are working at the site of the fallen debris," Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said, reporting minor damage to a building in the city. The mayor attributed the attack to the Ukrainian military.
The aftermath of a reported drone attack against Moscow Oblast, Russia, on March 11, 2025. (Governor Andrey Vorobyov/Telegram)
The aftermath of a reported drone attack against Moscow Oblast, Russia, on March 11, 2025. (Governor Andrey Vorobyov/Telegram)
"Today at 4 a.m., a massive drone attack against Moscow and Moscow Oblast began," Governor Andrey Vorobyov wrote on his Telegram channel. Drone wreckage damaged warehouses in the Leninsky district, set fire to 20 cars at a parking lot in Domodedovo, and damaged an apartment building in the town of Ramenskoye, according to the official.
Three people were killed in Moscow Oblast as a result of the strike, Vorobyov claimed. This reportedly included a 38-year-old security guard in the town of Domodedovo south of Moscow and two men who died later in the hospital.
Eighteen others, including three children, were injured in the region, the Health Ministry claimed.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims, and Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the attack.
Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports in Moscow introduced temporary flight restrictions in response to the drone attack, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) reported.
The Dyagilevo airbase in Ryazan Oblast and an unspecified target in Kursk Oblast were also targeted in overnight drone strikes, claimed Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Kovalenko suggested that the strike could be seen as an "additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air."
Ukraine regularly strikes military and industrial targets deep within Russian territory.
Chris York
