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.
Photo for illustrative purposes. Ukrainian soldiers adjust a Ukrainian flag atop a personnel armored carrier on a road near Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, on Oct. 4, 2022 (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on March 1 during a formation exercise, Mykhailo Drapatyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, said on March 3.
A day earlier, reports of a Russian attack with an Iskander-M ballistic missile on a training ground in the village of Cherkaske near the regional center of Dnipro began circulated on social media. The strike was allegedly carried out after an Orlan drone spotted a formation of soldiers about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the front line.
Drapatyi did not disclose the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed and injured. He added that the truth about the attack could be hidden "in the fog of bureaucracy" but promised to prevent this.
"A tragedy at a training ground is a terrible consequence of an enemy strike. The war requires quick decisions, responsibility, and new safety standards; otherwise, we will lose more than we have," Drapatyi said.
Drapatyi added he had launched an investigation into the circumstances of the strike and appointed an independent review with the participation of military counterintelligence.
"Everyone who made decisions that day, and everyone who did not make them on time, will be held accountable. No one will hide behind explanations or formal reports," he said.
Later on March 3, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said the head of the unit training center that was hit and the commander of the military unit had been suspended from duty.
"In the middle of the day, on March 1, the enemy attacked one of the military units on the territory of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region," he said.
"As a result of the hit of the Iskander-M ballistic missile equipped with cluster munitions, there are dead and wounded," he added.
Also on March 3, Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation announced it was opening criminal proceedings into the "death and injury of Ukrainian servicemen as a result of a Russian missile strike on a training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region."
This is not the first time Russia has attacked Ukrainian troops while they are lining up in the rear.
On November 3, 2023, in a village near the front line in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces attacked a group of soldiers. As a result of the Russian missile strike, 19 soldiers of the 128th Brigade and two civilians were killed.
According to an investigation by Ukraine's Defense Ministry, the soldiers were gathered in the courtyard of a house during an awards ceremony while all camouflage rules were ignored.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Chris York
