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.
Damage from a missile strike that hit Chernihiv Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater on Aug. 19, 2023. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) charged Russian Colonel-General Yevgeny Nikiforov in absentia for ordering a missile strike on a Chernihiv theater that killed seven people and wounded 200 in August 2023, the SBU announced on Nov. 30.
The SBU charged Nikiforov, the commander of the “West” grouping of troops in the Russian Armed Forces, with "violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder."
Nearly 143,000 war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces since 2022, including strikes against civilian infrastructure and killing of civilians, are currently under investigation in Ukraine. While Ukrainian authorities are pushing for an international tribunal, bringing alleged Russian war criminals to trial for these crimes remains almost impossible during the ongoing war.
Nikiforov ordered the missile strike on the Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater that took place on Aug. 19, 2023, according to the SBU. Russian forces launched an Iskander-M cruise missile from Kursk Oblast in Russia.
Seven people were killed, including a six-year-old child, and over 200 wounded. The large number of casualties is due to the theater's location in the city center and the timing of the attack which occurred in the daytime on a weekend.
The explosion from the strike also damaged apartment buildings, administrative buildings, and cars.
As of November 2024, Ukraine had charged 730 people and convicted 137 for committing war crimes in Ukraine, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
Natalia Yermak is a staff writer for the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a fixer-producer and contributing reporter for the New York Times since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Previously, she worked in film production and documentary.
Daria Shulzhenko
