"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.
Ships anchored in the Black Sea await to enter the Sulina canal, one of the spilling points of the river Danube to the Black Sea in Sulina, south-eastern Romania, on June 8, 2022. (Photo by Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images)
Moscow's defense minister has ordered the Russian army to develop measures to deal with what the ministry called "provocations" from U.S. strategic drones operating over the Black Sea, saying they are increasing the risk of a "direct confrontation" between Russia and NATO.
In a statement on June 28, the Russian Defense Ministry said the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were being used to conduct reconnaissance and find targets for "high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western states."
"This indicates the increasing involvement of the U.S. and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime," the statement added.
NATO drones operating over the Black Sea are no secret and can be followed using publicly available flight-tracking websites.
The Black Sea has become one of the main theaters of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv having multiple successes striking Russia's naval forces in the region.
Any country can fly drones over the areas of the Black Sea designated international waters, so long as they enter over the territorial waters of a country which gives its permission.
NATO drones operating in such a manner are not breaking international law and do not enter Russian airspace.
However, Russia claimed that "such flights greatly increase the likelihood of incidents in the airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation," adding that "NATO countries will be responsible for this."
Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
Owen Racer
