"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."
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.
People take part in a demonstration in support of Ukraine in Daugavpils, Latvia, on April 3, 2022. (Gints Ivuskans/AFP via Getty Images)
Children in Latvia will no longer learn Russian as a foreign language in schools from 2026, but instead will be required to learn a language of the European Union or the European Economic Area, Latvia's Education Ministry announced on April 23.
According to the ministry, Russian is the most learned foreign language in Latvian schools, followed by German and, to a lesser extent, English.
Russian continues to be taught as the second foreign language in more than half of Latvian schools, in large part due to the lack of teachers, Latvia's government said.
The ministry said that after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, schools had received feedback from parents that they did not want their children to learn the Russian language.
"The opportunity to choose a second foreign language at school, one of the languages of the European Union, we confirm our belonging to the European cultural space and the values of the democratic world," Education Minister Anda Caksa said.
"After the bloodiest war started by Russia in this century, the genocide against the Ukrainian people, Russian as a mandatory choice for the second foreign language is not acceptable for a large part of Latvian society," Caska said.
Children who have already started learning Russian and will not have completed school by Sept. 1, 2025, may continue their studies of the language "until the end of the basic education stage," the Education Ministry said.
The move is the latest in a series of measures by Latvia in connection with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including tightening residency rules for Russian citizens in the country.
A survey conducted in 2023 found that 37.7% of Latvia's population said that Russian was their mother tongue.
Latvia has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the outbreak of the full-scale war.
The country's prime minister, Evika Silina, recently said that Riga's military aid for Kyiv amounted to 392 million euros (around $425 million), including an upcoming defense aid package in April.
Sławomir Sierakowski
