"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.
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.
Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko during a session at Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Feb. 23, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A Moscow court sentenced Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko in absentia to 10 years in prison, the Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported on June 18, citing the court's statement.
The lawmaker was sentenced under the charges of spreading "disinformation about the military on the grounds of political hatred, justifying terrorism, and inciting hatred with the threat of violence," though the exact reasons for the launch of the proceedings were not disclosed, the outlet wrote.
Russia has launched criminal proceedings against a number of Ukrainian officials since the start of the full-scale war, for example, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.
International human rights groups have pointed out that Moscow often misuses its legal system to target political opponents under trumped-up charges.
"I accept your congratulations! I have become the first member of the parliament sentenced in Russia!" Honcharenko commented on the sentence on his Telegram channel.
The lawmaker suggested the reason behind the sentence may have been his calls for the killing of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prior to the EuroMaidan Revolution of 2014, Honcharenko was a member of the pro-Russian Party of Regions. He left the party during the revolution and was elected into the parliament later the same year for the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, later named European Solidarity.
Honcharenko is also the president of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Committee on Migration, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons.
In 2015, the lawmaker was briefly detained by the Russian police in Moscow ahead of a march in memory of killed Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. He has also been sanctioned by Moscow and found himself on the Russian list of "terrorists and extremists."
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.
Martin Fornusek
