"(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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda commemorate the victims of the Volyn Massacre in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk on July 9, 2023. (President Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram)
A team of Polish and Ukrainian researchers on April 24 began exhuming Polish victims of the World War II-era Volyn massacres in what is today western Ukraine, the Polish media reported.
Forensic experts, archeologists, and geneticists began their work at 9 a.m. local time at the site of the destroyed Puzhnyky (Puzniki in Polish) village in Ternopil Oblast.
This is the first such exhumation since 2017, when Ukraine imposed a moratorium in response to the destruction of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) memorials in Poland.
The Volyn massacres, which peaked in 1943-1944, took place in the Nazi-occupied territory of what is now western Ukraine during World War II. UPA members killed tens of thousands of Poles, while thousands of Ukrainians were killed in retaliation.
The massacre represents one of the most painful chapters of the Polish-Ukrainian history and has continued to strain mutual relations to this day.
UPA fighters are believed to have killed between 50 and 120 Poles in Puzhnyky overnight on Feb. 13, 1945. The settlement no longer exists, and the area has been overgrown with vegetation, but close to 80 victims may remain buried here.
The research team includes Polish experts from the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, the Pomeranian Medical University, and the Institute of National Remembrance, as well as Ukrainian researchers from the Society of Volyn Antiquities.
Maciej Wrobel, state secretary at the Polish Culture Ministry, told Polsat News that the goal is to identify the victims and ensure dignified burial. He also said that the work is complicated by Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, and warned against possible Russian disinformation operations.
In recent months, the Polish and Ukrainian governments have made efforts to resolve the issue of the Volyn exhumations, with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk announcing a "breakthrough" in January.
Multiple Polish government and opposition officials have said that Warsaw would block Ukraine's entry into the EU and NATO unless the matter is resolved.
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.
