U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the comments.
A notice about the airspace closure was published on the U.S. Defense Department's NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) website on May 10, as cited by Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi.
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."
An evening look at the ruins of the destroyed ethnographic museum in Kupiansk, which became an ideological target of the Russian forces, on Oct. 3, 2023. (Amadeusz Świerk)
Russia's full-scale war resulted in damage to 1,987 cultural facilities as of April 25, the Culture Ministry said on May 2. Some 16.3% of this number – 324 – were destroyed completely.
The latest figure accounts for almost 200 more institutions damaged or destroyed since the Culture Ministry's previous update from March.
The list of damaged sites includes 958 cultural and social clubs, 708 libraries, 153 art schools, 114 museums and galleries, 36 theaters, cinemas, and concert halls, 15 parks, zoos, and nature reserves, and three circuses.
This number does not include damaged or destroyed cultural heritage sites, which have amounted to 945 as of March.
Club establishments, libraries, museums, theaters, concert halls, and art schools were damaged on the territory of 281 communities.
According to available data, the most affected regions were Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Luhansk oblasts.
The Culture Ministry noted that it is currently impossible to fully account for damages in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, as they remain under partial Russian occupation.
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