"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.
U.S. Army soldiers from 2-506 Infantry 101st Airborne Division prepare to set off on patrol during day two of Operation Radu Bark VI in the Spira mountains in Khost province, five km from the Afghan-Pakistan Border, on Nov. 12, 2008.(David Furst/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia's military intelligence (GRU) offered a $200,000 bounty to Afghan militants for every U.S. or coalition soldier killed before Washington announced its withdrawal from the country, The Insider and Der Spiegel reported on Jan. 8.
The joint media investigation sheds fresh details on reports of Russia-sponsored killings of U.S. soldiers that first surfaced in 2020, including names of Russian intelligence officers and their local collaborators involved.
According to the investigation, the operation was overseen by Lieutenant General Ivan Kasyanenko, deputy commander of Unit 29155, a notorious group connected to Sergei Skripal poisoning in the U.K. and sabotage operations in Europe.
Russia reportedly paid the Taliban at least $30 million altogether for attacks on coalition soldiers.
GRU contracted the killings to ramp up pressure against Western countries and force their retreat from the country, The Insider and Der Spiegel wrote. The attacks stopped after then-U.S. President Donald Trump struck a deal in early 2020 to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The investigation also said that both the former Afghan administration and the U.S. were aware of the bounty program. The National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's security agency before the Taliban takeover in 2021, learned about the scheme during interrogations of Taliban militants in mid-2019, the investigation said.
Trump was broadly criticized at the time for inaction in the face of intelligence leaks pointing to Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers.
The former president, who is returning to the White House on Jan. 20 for his second term, acknowledged he had never approached Russian President Vladimir Putin about the reports. Trump has often voiced his sympathies for the Russian leader and said he trusts him more than U.S. intelligence on several occasions.
Joe Biden, who was then running for president, criticized Trump at the time, but his administration later downplayed the reports. Biden finalized the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which was followed by a quick collapse of the Afghan administration and the Taliban's takeover.
The Insider and Der Spiegel also reported that Russia's operations in Afghanistan went beyond the bounty program. Moscow was attempting to undermine the U.S.-led coalition with the help of the Taliban and Iran since the start of the intervention in 2001, the investigation claimed.
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.
Boldizsar Gyori
