"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.
Russian soldiers patrol a street on April 11, 2022, in Volnovakha in the Donetsk region. The picture was taken during a trip organized by the Russian military. (Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images)
Russian independent media outlet, Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBCRussian service, has confirmed the identities of 104,763 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
Mediazona's latest report covers the period of February 24, 2022 to April 24, 2025. Since it was last updated in the middle of April, 2,880 additional Russian military personnel have been confirmed killed.
The list of deceased Russian military personnel is compiled from verified, publicly available sources, including social media posts, local news reports, and official announcements from regional authorities.
However, as the Russian government does not publicly disclose casualty information, journalists note that the total number of casualties is likely higher than reported.
The confirmed death toll now includes 25,900 volunteers, 16,500 recruited prisoners, and 11,900 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. Over 4,900 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.
The media outlet publicly releasedthe full list of named casualties for the first time in February, commemorating the third-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, independent Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona estimatedin a report that around 165,000 Russian troops have been killed since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including nearly 100,000 in 2024.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Feb. 15 that Moscow had lost around 250,000 soldiers, with 20,000 killed in battles for Russia's Kursk Oblast alone.
Russia has gained ground in eastern Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in recent months but at the cost of heavy casualties as well as equipment losses. On April 29, Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces spokesperson, Vladyslav Voloshyn, said that Russian forces have recently intensified offensive operations in three Ukrainian oblasts – Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official let slip in December that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.
In an interview with NBC published on Feb. 16, Zelensky said over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 380,000 injured on the battlefield.
As of March 28, Russia has lost a total of 950,860 troops since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine's General Staff reported. The estimate, which is broadly in-line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies, likely includes those killed, captured, wounded, and missing.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Chris York
