"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.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) attend their meeting at the Ak Orda Presidential Palace, Nov. 9, 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Kazakhstan's president has "carefully considered" proposals to join BRICS but Astana will not seek to join the group "in the foreseeable future," a government spokesperson told Tengrinews.kz in an interview published on Oct. 16.
BRICS, composed of Russia, China, India, Brazil, and other nations, is a group of emerging economies often portrayed as a counterweight to the Western-led world.
"The president (Kassym-Jomart Tokayev) has received proposals on Kazakhstan's accession to BRICS. After all, our country is recognized as a responsible and authoritative member of the international community," presidential spokesperson and advisor Berik Uali said.
"However, at present and most likely in the foreseeable future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting an application to BRICS," the spokesperson said, citing the "multi-stage application process" and unspecified "development prospects" of the group as the reason.
Four new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates – joined the international organization at the start of 2024. This marked the group's first expansion since December 2010, when South Africa became a member.
Tokayev nevertheless plans to visit an upcoming BRICS forum on Oct. 23-24 in Russia's Kazan at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakhstan has been walking a tightrope between Russia and the West since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
While refusing to support Russian aggression and stressing its role as an independent actor, the Central Asian country has become one of the key pathways for sanctioned goods flowing to Russia.
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month in Astana, Tokayev voiced the belief that "Russia cannot be defeated in the military sense."
"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.
Martin Fornusek
