"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.
Workers maintain trains from Ukraine's state-owned railway, Ukrzaliznytsia, at the Kyiv Rail depot on Nov. 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Russian forces may shift their focus in the coming weeks to targeting Ukraine's transportation infrastructure, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its April 23 report.
Moscow intensified missile and drone attacks against Ukraine's energy grid in spring 2024, exploiting delays in Western aid that led to critical ammunition and air defense shortages. The assault failed to collapse Ukraine's power grid, but destroyed critical facilities in multiple cities.
The ISW said that while Ukraine waits for new weapons to arrive, Russian forces will continue their assault in order to "maximize damage to Ukrainian infrastructure and defense industrial base capacity."
According to the ISW, Russia may also change tactics, turning its attention from energy infrastructure to transportation networks in order to prevent the weapons supplies from reaching the front lines.
"Russian forces may shift their target set to hit Ukrainian transportation infrastructure, logistics, and military storage facilities," analysts said.
The ISW based its prediction in part on remarks by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who announced at the Russian Defense Ministry collegium on April 23 that Moscow will escalate attacks against Ukrainian logistics centers and weapons storage facilities.
Russia's April 19 attacks in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which targeted the Dnipro city railway station, also point to a renewed threat to Ukrainian transportation infrastructure.
Expanded strikes against transportation systems could be part of a strategy to impede Ukrainian forces' logistics and ground lines of communication, the ISW said.
"The Russian military command may hope that a coordinated interdiction effort will constrain Ukraine's ability to sufficiently distribute manpower and materiel to critical sectors of the front and delay the improved capabilities that the arrival of U.S. security assistance will afford Ukrainian forces," analysts said.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Chris York
