"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.
A Russian flag flies in the courtyard of the parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea, on March 18, 2014 (VAasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian military court sentenced Vadim Chaly, a 30-year-old Kyiv native, to 16 years in prison for attempting to send explosive packages to senior Russian military officials, Russian-state media reported on April 10.
Chaly, who pleaded guilty and asked for leniency due to his mother’s health issues, will serve the first three years in prison and the rest in a strict-regime penal colony.
He was also fined 500,000 rubles ($5,900) and will face two additional years of freedom restrictions after his release.
Prosecutors alleged that Chaly was recruited by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) through the online platform Avito, where he was reportedly promised small payments for mailing explosives to Russian colonels.
“After completing test assignments, they (SBU) promised him one thousand rubles for sending explosive packages to three Russian colonels,” the investigation materials, obtained by Russian state-controlled news agency TASS, claim. “For the last package, they promised 4,000 rubles.”
None of the three packages reportedly detonated.
The criminal case was opened in June 2024, and Chaly had been living in Russia at the time of his arrest.
The case comes amid a broader crackdown in Russia, where authorities have intensified arrests, prosecutions, and lengthy prison sentences since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Sonya Bandouil is a North American news editor for The Kyiv Independent. She previously worked in the fields of cybersecurity and translating, and she also edited for various journals in NYC.
Sonya has a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Houston, in Texas.
Olena Goncharova
