"(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.
People seen at a gym converted for accommodation for refugees from the Russian military aggression in Lviv, Ukraine on March 20, 2022. (Mykola Tys/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Ukrainian lawmaker Maksym Tkachenko said that his earlier statement about 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDP) returning to occupied territories was only his assumption, not based on real data, Ukrinform reported on Nov. 25.
"There is no such data. This was my unfounded and emotional assumption," Tkachenko told Ukrinform.
"I spoke incorrectly, so I'm taking back my words," said the lawmaker who serves on a committee focused on human rights and the liberation of occupied territories.
Tkachenko previously said during an interview with Ukrinform published on Nov. 24 that 150,000 IDPs have already returned to Russian-occupied territories, including 70,000 who have come back to the southern city of Mariupol.
Tkachenko now explained that individual IDPs are forced to travel to occupied territories for various reasons, but "it is by no means about hundreds or even tens of thousands, and general verified statistics cannot even theoretically exist."
An estimated 3.7 million IDPs live in Ukraine as Russian aggression and occupation have driven them out of their homes. Many of them face difficulties securing housing and employment.
The problem of mass displacement in Ukraine continues to grow as Russia's ongoing advance in the east leads to more civilian evacuations. Russia now occupies around 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Olena Goncharova
