U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the comments.
A notice about the airspace closure was published on the U.S. Defense Department's NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) website on May 10, as cited by Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said. "I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms."
"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."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 16, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a visit to Astana on Sept. 16 that "Russia cannot be defeated in the military sense."
Despite Astana's historically close ties to Moscow, Tokayev has taken a cautious approach to the full-scale war, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Russia's illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories in 2022. At the same time, Kazakhstan has declined to abandon its long-standing relationship with Russia.
"It is a fact that Russia cannot be defeated in the military sense," Tokayev told Scholz, in what was one of the clearest examples of Kazakhstan's pragmatic approach to Russia amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"A further escalation of war will lead to irreparable consequences for the whole of humanity and above all for the countries involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict," Tokayev added.
The Kazakh president also expressed support for a Chinese-Brazilian peace plan first pitched in May, which was dismissed by Scholz.
In an interview earlier in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky called the six-point plan "destructive" and characterized it as a "political statement."
Kazakhstan has been an increasingly important player in the region amid Russia's deteriorating relations with the West and has been accused of being a key transit intermediary for sanctions evasion.
Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin said in August that Kazakhstan will not "blindly follow the sanctions" if they affect domestic Kazakh companies.
The Kazakh government has sought concessions from the West to allow for trade with Iran or to use the country for transit, but has been unsuccessful. According to Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan does not acknowledge any unilateral sanctions and intends to move forward with its domestic trade agenda regardless of the West.
While visiting Germany in October 2023, Tokayev said that Kazakhstan would continue its economic cooperation with Russia while promising to adhere to the sanctions imposed on its northern neighbor.
Katie Marie Davies
