"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.
The bodies of the dead Russian soldiers destroyed a Russian tank who were killed during an attempt to storm the Avdiivka flank in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Dec. 23, 2023. (Kostya Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Russia has lost 915,230 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on March 31.
This number includes 1,230 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 10,496 tanks, 21,819 armored fighting vehicles, 42,593 vehicles and fuel tanks, 25,537 artillery systems, 1,347 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,123 air defense systems, 370 airplanes, 335 helicopters, 31,416 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
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The Kyiv Independent news desk
