"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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference during the forum 'Ukraine. Year 2025' on February 23, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ivan Antypenko/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC "UA:PBC"/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference on Feb. 23 that it was "dangerous" that members of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's team are spreading disinformation about the rationale for the start of the war to members of U.S. President Donald Trump's orbit.
"I know that there are people from this Hungarian leader who have contact with people in President Trump's orbit, and are constantly raising questions... in regards to not expanding NATO into eastern Europe," Zelensky said, criticizing Kremlin talking points that NATO was at fault for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Hungarian government insiders revealed that Trump sought Orban’s opinion on strategies to end the Ukraine war multiple times after Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.
In February 2024, Orban said that Ukraine should be left as a "buffer zone" between Russia and the West, with allies giving the country security guarantees but not accepting it into the EU or NATO.
Trump has himself previously criticized former President Joe Biden for provoking Russia’s invasion, claiming Ukraine’s potential NATO membership had long been a significant concern for Moscow. "I could understand their feelings," he said, referring to the country that launched the deadliest war in Europe since World War II.
"Is it not a risk that all the countries that became NATO members after various agreements between the (former) Soviet Union and the U.S. that they could all be under attack or occupation by the Russian army on their territory?" Zelensky said, criticizing disproven talking points about NATO expansionism.
"This is why all this disinformation... is dangerous, and I want President Trump to speak to me — with those at the table, not those who walk around the table."
Zelensky's comments come amid a strained week in U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Earlier in the week, Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war, saying Kyiv "should have never started it" and instead should have "made a deal." Later Trump added that Zelensky is not essential to negotiations to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
"I don't think he's very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you," Trump told Fox News Radio on Feb. 21.
Trump later conceded that Russia, not Ukraine, was the aggressor. "Russia attacked, but they shouldn't have let him attack," he said.
On Feb. 19, Trump called Zelensky a "dictator" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, accusing him of refusing to have elections, and repeating false claims about the war in Ukraine.
"He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden 'like a fiddle,'" Trump wrote.
A poll release the same day by the case of Ukraine (IBIF) project in partnership with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) foundthat around 63% of Ukrainians approve of Volodymyr Zelensky's actions as a president.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
