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.
Illustrative image: Russian police detain opposition supporters during a 'March of Millions' protest rally against Vladimir Putin's return in Moscow, Russia, on May 6, 2012. More than 250 people, including opposition leaders, were arrested. (Oleg Nikishin / Epsilon / Getty Images)
Ekaterina Barabash, a Russian journalist who was arrested earlier this year for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, has escaped house arrest and is now wanted by police, Russian state media reported on April 21.
Barabash, 63, was initially detained by the Russian Investigative Committee, a law enforcement agency tasked with investigating serious federal crimes, on Feb. 25.
The Russian Investigative Committee claimed in a Telegram post on February 26 that Barabash "admitted her guilt in full" during an interrogation.
She was then placed under house arrest by a Moscow court for posting "fake news" on her Facebook account about the war in Ukraine and was expected to stay there until April 25.
Russian authorities were alerted to her disappearance on April 13 by an electronic monitoring system. "The accused has been declared wanted," Russian state media reported.
Barabash has Ukrainian heritage and is the mother-in-law of Ukrainian screenwriter Lyuba Yakimchuk. She is also the daughter of late Ukrainian-born literary scholar and Shevchenko Prize laureate Yuriy Barabash.
For years, Barabash has publicly supported Ukraine on her social media accounts and condemned Russia's full-scale invasion.
“(You) bastards bomb a country, raze entire cities to the ground, kill hundreds of children, shoot at peaceful people for no reason, keep Mariupol under a blockade, deprive millions of people of a normal life, and force them to leave for foreign countries. For what? For the sake of friendship with Ukraine? You are Evil on a planetary scale," Barabash wrote on Facebook.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has cracked down on dissent and freedom of expression, specifically targeting people who have been critical of the war. Thousands of Russian citizens have been arrested and jailed for speaking out against the Putin regime.
Kateryna Hodunova
