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. Cargo ships and car ferries cross the Kerch Strait as the Crimea bridge is seen behind as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Crimea on July 25, 2023 (Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Families of senior officers in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet have left Crimea in recent weeks, the Ukrainian partisan group Atesh reported on April 20.
The group claimed that an internal directive was issued by Russian authorities in early April, mandating heightened security measures at military installations across Crimea.
This reportedly includes increased surveillance, covert patrols conducted by reservists in civilian clothing, and efforts to conceal military hardware. Additionally, all shore leave for Russian personnel stationed on the peninsula has reportedly been suspended.
"There is currently panic in the units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet," the group said in a post on Telegram.
The Kyiv Independent could not very the information.
Ukraine has repeatedly launched coordinated attacks on strategic Russian military targets in the occupied peninsula since the start of the full-scale war. In early April, Ukraine's military intelligence claimed to have struck two Russian military boats and an air defense system.
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, suggested on April 13 that the potential delivery of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine could enable strikes on high-value Russian military targets in occupied Crimea — including the strategically vital Kerch Bridge that links the peninsula to mainland Russia.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and since then the peninsula has been used as a Russian military base.
The Atesh movement regularly conducts sabotage attacks in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
On March 9, the group sabotaged a railway line linking parts of occupied Crimea with the front line in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, disrupting Russian supply lines.
They reported doing the same in Russia's Smolensk Oblast on March 23.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
