"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.
Illustrative image: In an aerial view, two Airbus A400m Atlas Cargo Planes, parked on the hard standing at Brize Norton, an RAF airbase on August 22, 2023, in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. (David Goddard/Getty Images)
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 3 that Ukraine's military destroyed a second Russian military aircraft within a 24-hour time period, having struck a military airfield in occupied Crimea.
The strike follows the downing of a Russian Su-30 fighter jet earlier on May 3 by a sea drone, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said. The attack marked the "world's first destruction of a combat aircraft by a naval drone," HUR claimed.
The multi-role Su-30 fighter, valued at approximately $50 million, was reportedly hit in midair and crashed into the sea.
"I thank our guys who are increasing Ukrainian long-range capabilities – both in the sky and at sea. The shooting down of a Russian military aircraft by our naval drone was brilliant – proof of Ukrainian capabilities," Zelensky said during his evening address.
Zelensky did not provide additional information on the newly destroyed aircraft, only adding that military depots were also destroyed in the attack. Ukraine's military has not publicly released details on the attack.
Ukraine launched a series of drone attack towards occupied Crimea on May 3, with Russia's Air Force claiming it had intercepted 89 drones over the region, as well as another 23 drones over the Black Sea.
Kyiv regularly launches drone and missile attacks towards occupied Crimea, a region that Moscow annexed in the midst of the EuroMaidan revolution of 2014.
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Anna Fratsyvir
