"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.
A man walks past the logo of Raiffeisen Bank seen atop a building in Moscow on April 3, 2023. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is making plans to begin its exit from the country in the summer of 2024, Russian media reported on May 3, citing the company's chairman, Johann Strobl.
The Vienna-based bank group, the largest remaining Western bank in Russia, has been under increasing pressure since the start of Russia's all-out war to scale down its activities in the country.
The European Parliament sent Austrian officials a letter in April, urging them to compel Raiffeisen to cease its activities in Russia in compliance with EU sanctions.
The letter came just days after Raiffeisen said that it expected European regulators to request an acceleration of the bank's withdrawal from Russia, and that it would comply with those requests.
The bank also said the European Central Bank (ECB) will soon ask Raiffeisen to significantly decrease loans to customers in Russia by 2026. Raiffeisen said it would abide by this request and eventually sell its Russian subsidiary.
The decision to finally exit from Russia is related to the ECB requirements, Strobl reportedly said.
Strobl added that the most attractive option for Raiffeisen to fully end its operations in Russia would be to sell its subsidiary there to another foreign company. Other possible Russian buyers are already sanctioned, he said.
Kateryna Denisova
