"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.
The national flag of the Republic of Belarus flies at the 12th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum on Nov. 2, 2023. (Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A Japanese man was sentenced in Minsk on March 17 to seven years in prison on charges stemming from "espionage activity," Belarus’ Prosecutor General's Office said.
Authorities convicted Masatoshi Nakanishi for allegedly taking over 9,000 photos of civilian and military infrastructure. The man was accused of taking photos of military facilities and railway infrastructure. Belarusian authorities also claimed Nakanishi traveled to the Ukrainian border.
Under the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Minsk has imprisoned hundreds of political prisoners, convicting a number hundreds of people under the guise of anti-state activity. According to the Viasna human rights monitoring group, there are currently 1,213 political prisoners in Belarus.
Nakanishi has been in custody since July for allegedly spying for a foreign intelligence agency between 2018 and 2024, local authorities said. Nakanishi's arrest was only publicly announced in September, despite his arrest several months prior.
The Japanese Embassy in Belarus was barred from attending the court proceedings, which ended on March 17.
Nakanishi, who lives in the bordering city of Gomel and taught at a local university, was convicted by the Minsk City Court in a closed-door trial that spanned over the course of two months.
"Like other political prisoners, he is being dehumanized by regime propaganda," Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said in a post to X on March 17, calling for Nakanishi's immediate release.
Japan's Embassy in Belarus also told Japanese media outlet NHK that it was calling for immediate release.
Kateryna Denisova
