Iran is preparing to send Russia Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile launchers, Reuters reported on May 9, citing Western security and regional officials familiar with the matter.
"Ukraine and all allies are ready for a complete unconditional ceasefire on land, in the air, and at sea for at least 30 days, starting as early as Monday," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote.
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.
Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft takes off at the Hostomel airfield outside Kyiv on April 11, 2020. (Illia Ponomarenko/The Kyiv Independent)
The world's largest cargo aircraft An-225 Mriya operated by Ukraine's legendary Antonov company has endured a technical problem at an airfield in Poland.
The incident took place at the Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport on Jan. 10 in the country's southeast, according to Antonov. During a touchdown, the aircraft's right-side landing gear unit lost its bolts fixing its gear-position transmitter, the report says.
"The revealed breakdown had no effect on the security of Mriya's flight and landing," the company said.
"With the bolts replaced, the aircraft's operational capacity is going to be replaced. (Mriya) is going to carry on with its commercial flight."
Antonov also sent technicians to Poland to get the issue fixed.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the Mriya arrived in Rzeszow, where it was hailed by numerous aviation fans, from Istanbul.
The Mriya was built by Antonov in Kyiv and took its maiden flight in November 1988.
It was originally designed to transport spacecraft components as part of the Soviet space shuttle project Buran. The heavy aircraft was also supposed to be used for the Buran's air launches.
With its wingspan over 88 meters, the giant is capable of carrying up to 250 metric tons of payload. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it is used by Antonov Airlines, the company's air carrier, for extra-large commercial freight transportation service across the world.
The Mriya has a twin, a second An-225 aircraft, unfinished since the late 1980s. According to Antonov, completing the second An-225 for commercial transportation rather than a large space program is not cost-effective and demands at least $700 million in investment.
Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023. He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. Besides, he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
