"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.
The three lawyers who used to represent the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser, and Vadim Kobzev (L-R in the defendants' cage), accused of participating in an "extremist" organization, appear in court in the town of Petushki in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, on Sept. 12, 2024. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
A court in Russia's Vladimir Oblast sentenced three former lawyers of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to between three and a half and five and half years in prison, the independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Jan. 17.
Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin were sentenced after a closed-door trial on "extremism" charges over their involvement with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. The foundation was the flagship project of Navalny, Russia's most known opposition leader, who died under unclear circumstances in a Russian prison colony in February 2024.
The news underscores Russia's increasingly harsh repressions against domestic opposition, which only escalated with the outbreak of the full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. "Extremism" charges are widely seen as a tool to suppress and scare off voices that criticize the current leadership or Russia's war in Ukraine.
Kobzev was sentenced to five and half years, Liptser to five years, and Sergunin to three and half years in prison. They sare also barred from practicing law for three years after the completion of their prison sentences.
The three were detained in October 2023 after being accused of "using their status" as lawyers to facilitate communication between imprisoned Navalny and his organization, labeled as "extremist" by Russian authorities, Meduza reported.
Launched in 2011, the Anti-Corruption Foundation has published investigations into suspected corruption among top Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia designated the group as "extremist" and formally dissolved it in 2021. The foundation was relaunched as an international organization the following year.
Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedolov, two other Navalny's ex-lawyers charged with "extremism," have left Russia and are wanted by Russian authorities.
Moscow's crackdown targets other prominent opposition figures as well. On Jan. 16, Russian law enforcement officers raided the home of oppositionist Illia Yashin's parents.
Yashin was previously sentenced to eight and half years in 2022 for denouncing Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. He was released during a large-scale prisoner exchange between Moscow and the West in August 2024 and now resides abroad.
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.
