Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said. "I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms."
"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.
Kaja Kallas, EU's top diplomat, speaks with the media at the special European Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on March 6, 2025. (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)
The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas warned European leaders on April 15 against attending Russia’s May 9 military celebrations in Moscow and urged them to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine instead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has reportedly invited leaders from China, India, and Brazil, as well as from EU member Slovakia and EU candidate Serbia, to attend the events marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
"What was also discussed very clearly, and said by different member states, is that any participation in the 9th May parades or celebrations in Moscow will not be taken lightly on the European side, considering that Russia is really waging a full-scale war in Europe," Kallas told reporters in Luxembourg following a meeting of EU foreign ministers, according to Politico.
Kallas also said the EU does not want to see any country aspiring to join the bloc participating in celebrations hosted by Putin’s government.
Russia has repeatedly used historical commemorations to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Putin falsely claiming the war is an effort to "denazify" the country.
Kallas backed the idea after the ministerial meeting: "I’ve also called all the member states but also representatives of the institutions to visit Kyiv as much as possible to show really our solidarity and that we are with Ukraine."
The office of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would not attend the parade in Moscow, while Slovak leader Robert Fico had announced plans to attend back in November 2024.
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.
Kateryna Denisova
