"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.
A Russian oil field run by Rosneft Oil Company near the village of Sokolovka, November 2020. (Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Russian and Kazakh oil shipments to Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany via the Druzhba pipeline have been halted since Dec. 19 due to technical issues at a Russian pumping station, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.
The Druzhba pipeline, one of the world’s largest with a capacity of 2 million barrels per day (bpd), is a critical conduit for oil from Russian fields to European refineries.
Transneft, the Russian state-owned pipeline operator, identified a problem at the Unecha pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast, near the Belarusian border.
Belarus' Belneftekhim confirmed the disruption to oil supplies via Druzhba to the Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta, stating that Belarusian refineries are relying on stored reserves to continue operations.
The halt affects its southern branch, which had been transporting 300,000 bpd to EU countries granted exemptions from the EU's ban on Russian pipeline oil.
These countries include Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia, which rely on Russian supplies.
Sources told Reuters that oil deliveries from Russia's western ports — Novorossiisk, Ust-Luga, and Primorsk — remain unaffected, and Druzhba's oil could be rerouted to these ports.
While one source suggested the issue might be resolved within days, another indicated that the suspension could last until the end of December.
However, the Druzhba pipeline’s southern branch remains active under exemptions for certain Central European countries.
The northern branch primarily transports Kazakh crude oil to Germany via Poland's Gdansk port, as Poland ceased importing Russian pipeline oil in early 2023.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
