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."
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.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendant's cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his arrest in Moscow, Russia, on April 18, 2023. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia's foreign minister claimed on July 17 that there is "irrefutable evidence" that imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is guilty of espionage, one day before the journalist is scheduled to appear in court.
Sergey Lavrov accused American journalists of delaying U.S.-Russia talks on a potential prisoner exchange by publicizing confidential negotiations, which he noted are still "ongoing."
At a U.N. news conference, Lavrov said that Gershkovich’s case is unrelated to any "attacks on journalism," according to the Associated Press. "I would like to assure you that, just as much as you do, we are in favor of journalism and freedom of speech," Lavrov said.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in late March 2023 while working on a story about the Wagner mercenary group's recruiting methods, as well as Russian citizens' views on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The journalist has been in pre-trial detention in Russia for more than a year on espionage charges. His trial began in Yekaterinburg on June 26.
The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have denied all the charges against Gershkovich, and have called them politically motivated.
If convicted, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison, a likely outcome given that Russian courts have a conviction rate of over 99%.
in June, the Russian Prosecutor General’s office accused Gershkovich of "gathering secret information" on orders from the CIA regarding a military equipment plant located 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg. Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. deny that he was a spy.
Lavrov claimed that the U.S. and U.K. have a long history of recruiting journalists as spies, citing a recent Telegram post by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova about the memoirs of a British journalist who spied on revolutionary Russia in 1917.
"The use of journalists for intelligence gathering purposes, at least in the Anglo-Saxon world, is a tradition," Lavrov said.
Gershkovich is scheduled to appear in court on July 18 for the second hearing in his trial.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Nate Ostiller
