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.
Anti-LGBTQ activists clash with police as they try to interfere with a gathering of the LGBTQ community for the Tbilisi Pride Festival in Tbilisi on July 8, 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Georgia's parliament passed a package of anti-LGBTQ laws on Sept. 17 in its third reading. The bills will still need to be signed by pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili to become law — but a veto by the president can still be overcome by a subsequent vote in parliament.
The package of laws, based around a core bill entitled "On Protection of Family Values and Minors," was first proposed in March by Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party's faction in parliament.
It mirrors similar moves in Russia, particularly a decision by Russia's Supreme Court in November 2023 to declare "the international LGBT social movement" to be "an extremist organization" and ban all its activities.
The bills would ban gender transition, adoption by same-sex couples, and forbid gatherings or the distribution of information "aimed at promoting" LGBTQ relationships.
After the law was initially proposed, Mdinaradze said it was necessary to "protect society from pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable harmful consequences."
Ahead of its passage, a group of 32 civil society organizations released a statement condemning the legislation, saying that it was aimed at "manipulating the public before the elections, covering up real problems, inciting irrational fear, and creating another obstacle on the road to the country's European integration."
The bills do nothing to address real problems faced by families in Georgia, such as poverty, inflation, and inadequate access to education, the statement said.
The statement further called on President Zourabichvili to veto the legislation.
It was the latest in a pattern of government measures that aim to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people in Georgia.
The previous year, police in Tbilisi failed to prevent thousands of far-right counterprotesters from descending on the capital's pride festival, resulting in fights and the cancellation of the event.
The attack on the pride festival was organized in part by the ar-right and pro-Russian group Alt-Info. Two key members of Alt-Info were sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights abuses on Sept. 16.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Daria Svitlyk
