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.
Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen poses for a photo as they arrive for an award ceremony for the Hannah Ahrendt Prize for Political Thinking which Gessen was honoured with on December 16, 2023 in Bremen, Germany. (Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images)
New York Times opinion columnist Masha A. Gessen was sentenced in absentia on July 15 by a Moscow court to eight years in prison over comments Gessen made about Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
According to the New York Times, Gessen was convicted by the Basmanny District Court for spreading "false information" about Russia's military, having described the massacre committed by Russian Armed Forces in Bucha and neighboring communities during an interview in 2022 with a Russian journalist.
Russian authorities charged the Russian-born American journalist in August 2022 - with the verdict being reached within minutes of deliberations on Monday.
In a statement, Gessen, who resides in the U.S., wrote that the verdict serves “to intimidate me and to prevent me from practicing my profession," the New York Times reported. “To oblige a journalist to use only official sources, and even more so to use only sources on the other side of the military conflict, means, in effect, to ban journalism,” Gessen added.
Gessen's conviction in absentia comes as Russia continues its crackdown on independent, Western journalism within Russia.
On June 26, the Russian trial for jailed U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Evan Gershkovich began. Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in late March 2023 while working on a story about the Wagner mercenary group's recruiting methods, as well as Russian citizens' views on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The journalist has been in pre-trial detention in Russia for more than a year on espionage charges.
If convicted, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison, a likely outcome given that Russian courts have a conviction rate of over 99%.
Dual U.S.-Russian citizen and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva also remains in pre-trial detention. While in Russia during a family emergency, Kurmasheva was charged under the country's foreign agents law in October 2023.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
