"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.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. The entrance to the Russian city of Belgorod, some 40 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, on May 28, 2023. (Olga Maltseva / AFP via Getty Images)
Editor's note: This is a breaking news article and is being updated.
Ukraine’s military struck a command post of a Russian motorized rifle regiment in Nekhoteyevka in the Belgorod region, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported early on June 23.
Nekhoteyevka is a village near the Russian-Ukrainian border located around 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Belgorod.
The strike was carried out by Ukraine’s Air Force in cooperation with other branches of the military, according to the General Staff.
"As a result of combat work, explosions were recorded. The target was successfully hit," reads the report. The Kyiv Independent couldn't immediately verify this information.
The General Staff did not provide any further details on the attack.
An hour after the General Staff's report, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, reported via Telegram on multiple strikes against his region but did not mention any attack on Nekhoteyevka.
Ukrainian drones overnight on June 21 attacked four refineries in Russia's Krasnodar Krai and Astrakhan Oblast, as well as sites where Russian Shahed-type drones were stored, Ukraine's General Staff reported earlier.
Later, Ukraine's Naval Forces published satellite images that confirmed the destruction of storage and preparation sites for Shahed-136/Geranium-2 drones in Russia's Krasnodar Krai.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told PBS News on June 17 that Ukraine is allowed to strike with U.S. weapons "anywhere that Russian forces are coming across the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take additional Ukrainian territory."
Chris York
