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 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.
A Pantsir S-1 missile system (NATO reporting name: SA 22 Greyhound) is seen on the roof of the main building of the Russian Defense Ministry on March 1, 2023, in Moscow, Russia. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Russia's Ministry of Defense has proposed changes to military medical examination rules that would simplify the conscription of individuals with psychosis, hypertension, and syphilis.
The amendments would also make it harder for soldiers to be discharged for health reasons during mobilization, according to a report by a Russian independent non-profit organization (Movement of Conscientious Objectors to military service in Russia).
Currently, individuals diagnosed with primary, secondary, or latent syphilis are exempt from conscription under category "B," meaning they are considered limitedly fit and not subject to the draft in peacetime.
However, under the proposed amendments, they would instead be classified as fit for service with minor restrictions. Similar changes would apply to conscripts suffering from moderate, short-term endogenous psychoses and severe neurotic psychoses related to stress or mood disorders. These individuals, who were previously assigned category "D" (unfit for service), would now be deemed eligible with some restrictions.
Additionally, the amendments remove an important provision that allowed for consideration of pre-existing illnesses that worsened after enlistment when determining a soldier’s fitness. Under the new rules, such cases would no longer be formally recognized as a basis for discharge, further tightening restrictions on medical exemptions.
According to an explanatory note, the Ministry of Defense developed these amendments to "improve the system of medical examination of servicemen" by incorporating lessons from the ongoing war against Ukraine.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Kateryna Hodunova
