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 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.
Workers clear the rubble at a thermal power plant, extensively damaged after a Russian missile strike, at an undisclosed location, in Ukraine, on Friday, April 12, 2024. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Russia’s missile strikes on Nov. 16-17 hit three of the five operational thermal power plants owned by Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, leaving one plant offline, Reuters reported on Nov. 21, citing unnamed sources.
The strikes targeted energy facilities across Ukraine in one of the heaviest assaults on the country’s power grid since the start of the full-scale war, with Russia launching approximately 120 missiles and 90 drones.
DTEK reported “heavy damage” to its equipment following the attack, marking the eighth mass assault on its energy plants this year. According to the source, two of the damaged facilities have resumed partial electricity production, while the third remains offline.
An unnamed official confirmed to Reuters that power plants and distribution stations were damaged during the Nov. 17 strikes but declined to provide specific figures on power losses, calling the information “too sensitive.”
Ukraine reintroduced rolling blackouts on Nov. 18, with outages lasting four to eight hours at a time and occurring multiple times daily.
Officials have warned that Russia may continue targeting the energy grid as winter approaches, repeating a strategy used during spring and summer and throughout the autumn-winter season of 2022-2023.
In September, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian attacks had destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and most of its hydroelectric capacity. Ukrainian authorities and energy companies have been working to repair and reinforce the grid in anticipation of renewed attacks.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Ukraine’s electricity shortage could reach 6 gigawatts this winter—around one-third of peak demand. By comparison, the summer shortage was 2.5 GW, which already resulted in prolonged blackouts in Kyiv.
Mykola Kolisnyk
