"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 at a meeting on the Ukraine Compact during the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., on July 11, 2024. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) briefed President Volodymyr Zelensky "on the liquidation of individuals from the top command of the Russian armed forces," the president said on April 28.
In recent days, two high-profile Russians with ties to the full-scale war in Ukraine have been reported killed in car bombings.
Lieutenant GeneralYaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the main operations directorate of Russia's army, was killed when a car exploded in the yard of a residential building in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast on April 25.
Yevgeny Rytikov, a Russian engineer involved in modernizing electronic warfare (EW) systems used against Ukraine, was killed in a car bombing in western Russia overnight on April 18.
"The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service reported on the liquidation of individuals from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice inevitably comes," Zelensky said.
"The head of the SBU reported on our further measures to counter Russian agent networks in Ukraine and saboteurs. Good results. Thank you for your work."
Ukraine has not officially claimed credit for either reported bombing. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on April 26 that it had detained Ignat Kuzin, allegedly an "agent of the Ukrainian special services," in connection to Moskalik's killing.
Ukrainian security services have been linked to several assassinations of Russian military officers and other figures involved in Moscow's war against Ukraine.
The government is also preparing a new round of sanctionsin response to recently obtained information,Zelensky said.
"Today I was presented with materials that substantiate the need for appropriate decisions," he said, without disclosing further details.
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.
Alisa Yurchenko
