"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.
Illustrative purposes only: Ukrainian cadets attend a ceremony for taking the military oath at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War in Kyiv on Sept. 8, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More than 300 cadets took the oath of enlistment. (Roman Pilipey /AFP via Getty Images)
A man stabbed a military enlistment official in the town of Synelnykove in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on May 18, Ukraine's Ground Forces reported.
According to the report, the official sustained an arm injury.
Ukraine has been working on trying to ramp up mobilization over the last six months as the country's military faces an increasingly critical personnel shortage.
In April, the parliament passed a bill updating the rules on mobilization as the country seeks to replenish the ranks of its Armed Forces.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60, with some exceptions, are not allowed to leave the country as they may be called up for military service.
The police arrested the man who attacked the enlistment official and launched an investigation into the murder attempt.
It is unclear what caused the attack on the draft official.
There have been multiple cases of suspected abuses committed by enlistment officials toward civilians and conscripts since Ukraine started a large-scale mobilization after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.
Alexander Khrebet is a reporter with the Kyiv Independent. He covers Ukraine’s foreign policy, alleged abuse of power in the country’s military leadership, and reports on the Russian-occupied territories. Alexander is the European Press Prize 2023 winner, the #AllForJan Award 2023 winner and Ukraine's 2022 National Investigative Journalism Award finalist. His was published in the Washington Times and Atlantic Council.
Kateryna Hodunova
