"(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 view from the exhibition as Iran exhibits its missiles, satellite-carrying rockets, and air defense systems, including the missiles and drones used in the Israeli attack, at the Aviation and Space Park Permanent Exhibition Centre of the Revolutionary Guards Army in the capital, Tehran, Iran, on Oct.17, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The European Union expanded sanctions against Iran on Nov. 18 in response to Tehran's support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to the European Council.
The council announced a "transaction ban prohibiting any transaction with ports and locks that are owned, operated or controlled by listed individuals and entities or are used for the transfer of Iranian UAVs or missiles or related technology and components to Russia."
The new measures also target the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its director, Mohammad Reza Khiabani.
Reuters reported, citing Iran's official IRNA News Agency, that Ali Akbar Safaei, Managing Director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, rejected the sanctions as "baseless. "
The EU also imposed sanctions on three Russian shipping companies—MG Flot, VTS Broker, and Arapax—for delivering Iranian weapons, including drone components, across the Caspian Sea to bolster Russian troops in Ukraine.
Earlier on Oct. 14, the EU adopted sanctions against seven individuals and seven entities over Iran's missile and drone shipments to Russia. Brussels joined the U.S. and other Western powers that have slapped sanctions on Iran after it was revealed that Tehran supplied Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles to Moscow.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Nate Ostiller
