"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.
Dorin Recean, Moldova's prime minister, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States, on Sept. 27, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Russia spent nearly 200 million euros ($220 million) to buy votes in the Moldovan presidential race and the EU referendum in 2024, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said at a briefing on April 2, Reuters reported.
Recean's statement comes after the U.K. imposed sanctions on the pro-Russian NGO "Eurasia," which is allegedly responsible for attempts to rig the referendum in Moldova and destabilize the country's democracy.
According to Moldovan law enforcement agencies, fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor and his associates led the efforts to bribe voters. The U.K. Foreign Ministry said the "Eurasia" network was under Shor's control.
"The Kremlin's agents launched a mass vote-buying campaign, spending about 200 million euros — almost 1% of Moldova's GDP — to destabilize our country," Recean said.
Voters were almost evenly divided on Oct. 21 on a referendum to enshrine the country's path to European Union accession in the Moldovan Constitution. Pro-EU voters won by a razor-thin margin, securing 50.35% of the vote against 49.65%.
In the presidential election, incumbent pro-EU President Maia Sandu won against former prosecutor Alexandr Stoianoglo on Nov. 3 by a margin of about 55.3% to 44.7% despite what she called an "unprecedented" election interference backed by Moscow.
Moldovan authorities, independent observers, and officials from the EU and the U.S. pointed to a malign influence campaign involving criminal networks and political groups tied to Russia. Moldovan lawmakers claimed that Moscow spent millions of dollars backing Stoianoglo.
Sandu has long insisted that the real opponent to her government and Moldova's European path is the Kremlin, which has been waging a hybrid war designed to push Chisinau back into Moscow's orbit in what Sandu described "a fraud of unprecedented proportions."
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Katie Marie Davies
