"(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.
Viktor Medvedchuk at the session of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 14, 2020. (Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukrainian authorities charged pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk in absentia with illegal seizure of the Samara-Western direction oil pipeline section several years ago, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on July 24.
Once Russian President Vladimir Putin's key ally in the Ukrainian political landscape, Medvedchuk was arrested and released to Russia during a prisoner exchange in late 2022.
Kyiv charged the pro-Russian oligarch with high treason in 2021 and stripped him of citizenship and seat in the parliament two years later.
According to the SBU, Medvedchuk and four other suspects – former managers of the Prykarpatzakhidtrans company – began a scheme in 2015 to seize the Ukrainian section of the Samara-Western direction oil pipeline, later known as "Medvedchuk's pipe," from the state ownership.
Medvedchuk managed to overturn a court ruling that granted the state the membership of the pipeline and secured its transfer to a Swiss company, controlled by one of the other suspects.
Visualization of the suspected scheme for an illicit seizure of the Samara-Western direction pipeline. (SBU/Telegram)
Participants of the scheme then managed the pipeline's operations through the Prykarpatzakhidtrans company and split the profits among themselves. According to the SBU, the scheme involved the leadership of both Ukraine and Russia.
Medvedchuk gave testimony about the scheme during his detention in 2022, claiming that then-President Petro Poroshenko played an important role and benefited from the illicit privatization.
Investigation into the privatization was launched in 2017, and in January 2024, Ukraine's Supreme Court recognized state ownership over the pipeline.
Mevdedchuk was charged with illegal seizure of property, abuse of authority, and related charges. Investigation into other possible suspects is ongoing.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Dmytro Basmat
