"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 view of parts of missile following Russian forces attacked Kyiv with 2 ballistic missiles KN-23 in outside of Kyiv, Ukraine on Aug. 18, 2024. (Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
North Korea is producing ballistic missiles for use by Russia against Ukraine faster than previously thought, Jonah Leff, the executive director at the independent Conflict Armament Research (CAR) group, told the U.N. Security Council on Dec. 18.
Leff said that the researchers from his group examined remnants of four North Korean missiles recovered in Ukraine in July and August. One of them had marks showing it was procured in 2024, according to the researcher.
"This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years," Leff said.
Leff told the U.N. Security Council back in June that his group has "irrefutably" established that Russia is using North Korean missiles against Ukraine.
According to Ukraine's military intelligence, Russian forces have launched at least 60 North Korean ballistic missiles, namely the short-range KN-23/24 model, as of early December.
"Their accuracy, in principle, is not very high. We understand that the technology with which they were manufactured is outdated," Andrii Cherniak, a military intelligence spokesperson, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Leff also said that some of the components found in the missile debris did not originate in North Korea and were produced as early as 2023.
"Despite nearly two decades of sanctions on the DPRK, it has demonstrated this year its ability to produce and supply ballistic missiles for use against Ukraine within just a matter of months," the researcher commented. The DPRK is the official name of North Korea.
"Through CAR's collaborative approach with industry, we have ascertained that these components found in remnants of weapons systems used against Ukraine derived from supplies by third-party distributors, mostly based in East Asia."
Russia has not officially confirmed weapons shipments from North Korea but affirmed a close military and economic relationship with Pyongyang.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership pact in July, and North Korea has subsequently dispatched over 10,000 soldiers to aid Russian forces in the embattled Kursk Oblast.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
