"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.
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 bride and Groom kiss during their wedding in the city during the war on May 18, 2024. In recent days Russian forces have gained ground around the Kharkiv region, which Ukraine had largely reclaimed in the months following Russia's initial large-scale invasion in February 2022. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
The Time magazine chose the Ukrainian Diia app’s online marriage service to be one of the best inventions of 2024, its website reported on Oct. 30.
For more than two decades, Time editors have annually spotlighted the most influential new products and ideas in their Best Inventions issue.
Dubbed "the country in the smartphone," the Diia mobile app was launched by the Digital Transformation Ministry in 2020. As of early August, it included some 130 services and is used by more than 20 million Ukrainians, according to officials.
Ukrainians can apply, propose, and get married online by choosing a place and date. The couple can be in the same place or hundreds of kilometers apart.
Ukraine became the first country to have such a practice fully digitalized. Since the start of the full-scale war, nearly a million people have been defending the country. Through the app, soldiers can now get married while on the front line.
According to the Digital Transformation Ministry, as of Sept. 20, 251 couples had gotten married in Diia, and 3,200 had applied for marriage online. Almost 830,000 proposals were recorded, with 106,000 people saying "yes."
Apart from marrying online, the app allows users to access various official documents, including their passports, driver's licenses, or vehicle registrations. It also allows users to register a business or pay taxes with a few clicks.
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.
Kateryna Denisova
