"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 illustration of Russian hacker with a laptop. (BeeBright via Getty Images)
A hacker group named Silent Crow has claimed to have hacked and obtained data from Russia's state cadastre and cartography agency, the independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported on Jan. 7.
Russia’s state register denied the news, issuing a statement that said: "Additional checks of the information published in a number of Telegram channels are currently underway."
The stolen database contained the internal identification of each recording, the name of the real estate’s owner (full name or the name of the legal entity), their date of birth, details of documents (passport), address, and sometimes also phone numbers dating until early 2024, Agentstvo reported.
Agentstvo randomly selected and checked 15 recordings, which all corresponded to real owners.
The hackers claimed to have stolen 2 billion lines, publishing 82 million as proof. It is unclear who is behind the group. The Silent Crow channel where the alleged hack was published was created on Dec. 25. The channel's only post is from Jan. 6 and concerns the leak.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the group’s claims.
Many investigative journalists used Russia’s state registry to expose corruption by showing if someone’s property worth was above their pay grade until 2023, when a Russian law banned the publication of personal information for third parties without the registered person or company’s consent.
Both Russia and Ukraine have widely used cyberattacks to target government institutions and key businesses during the full-scale war. In December, a Russian-backed cyberattack targeted several state registers overseen by Ukraine's Justice Ministry.
Boldizsar is a former Reuters correspondent for Hungary, currently based in Kharkiv, reporting for the Kyiv Independent and various other outlets. He holds degrees in political science, philosophy, and development policy.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
