"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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. Armed servicemen of the Dilove border guard unit accompanied by a German Shepherd dog wade through the dense carpet of the plant covering a rocky slope while on patrol at the Ukraine-Romania border in the Marmaroskyi Massif of the Carpathian Mountains, Zakarpattia Region, western Ukraine, Oct. 10, 2018. (Markiian Lyseiko/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Dozens of people try to illegally cross Ukraine's border into the EU every day, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) published on June 20.
Men of the conscription age are prohibited from leaving the country during martial law, save for several exceptions. Many attempt to reach neighboring countries in spite of that, hoping to avoid mobilization.
"We are talking about dozens of people every day. Sometimes 10, sometimes 20, sometimes 30," Klymenko said in the interview.
"This includes not only those who try to swim across the Tysa River or go through the forest or the mountains but also those who try to use fake documents at checkpoints."
According to the minister, the latter example represents 15% of all cases.
Several men had been found dead while attempting the perilous crossing across the Tysa River, which runs along the borders of Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, or through the mountains.
Klymenko said that Ukrainian authorities are "technically ill-equipped" to fully close the border with the EU for those citizens who try to cross illegally. He refused to provide overall statistics but rejected that the number of people who crossed or attempted to cross would reach tens of thousands.
Romanian police told RFE/RL in May that about 11,000 Ukrainian men have illegally crossed the border into Romania since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
According to Klymenko, negotiations with EU countries on the return of men who illegally left Ukraine are ongoing, but no such plans are being put forward in European capitals.
The minister also said that cross-border smuggling has dropped by around 30-40% as smugglers began instead illegally transporting people across the border.
Some countries, like Lithuania or Poland, voiced support for helping Ukraine bring back its military-aged men living abroad but rejected the possibility of forcibly deporting them.
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.
Kateryna Denisova
