"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.
A photo purporting to show a car explosion in the city of Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, Russia on April 25, 2025. (Ostorozhno Moskva Telegram channel)
A senior Russian general has been killed in an explosion in Moscow, a spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia confirmed on April 25.
According to Russian state media, a car exploded in the yard of a residential building in the Russian city of Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, killing one person.
The Investigative Committee of Russia later identified the deceased as Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the main operations directorate of Russia’s army.
"According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device," it added.
A criminal case has been opened.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
The incident took place as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow earlier in the day to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
There is limited publicly available information about Moskalik. He was listed as a member of the Russian delegation during the 2015 Normandy Format talks, set up to find a resolution to Russia's war in eastern Ukraine.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Moskalik was also involved in the high-level Normandy Four meeting in 2019, as well as in talks with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad a year earlier, who has since been ousted.
While Ukraine has not been officially linked to the recent car bombing, Kyiv has previously targeted Russian officials who play a key role in Russia's full-scale invasion.
Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical, and biological defense troops, was killed in an explosion at a residence in Moscow in December 2024, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Independent.
Mikhail Shatsky, a Russian expert involved in modernizing missiles launched against Ukraine, was shot dead near Moscowon Dec. 12, a Defense Forces source told the Kyiv Independent.
Aleksey Kolomeitsev, a Russian colonel who trained specialists in the use of attack drones, was killed in the city of Kolomna in Moscow Oblast, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on Sept. 28.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Kateryna Denisova
