"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.
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, smiles from inside a glass defendants' cage prior to a hearing in Yekaterinburg's Sverdlovsk Regional Court on June 26, 2024. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
The trial for jailed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been in pre-trial detention in Russia for more than a year on espionage charges, began in Yekaterinburg on June 26.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent crackdown on civil rights, a growing number of U.S. and other Western citizens have been jailed in Russia on dubious charges.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in late March 2023 while working on a story about the Wagner mercenary group's recruiting methods, as well as Russian citizens' views on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was jailed without charges for over 14 months as authorities repeatedly extended his pre-trial detention.
Russia formally accused Gershkovich of spying for the CIA and finalized his indictment on June 13, announcing that he would finally go to trial. Russian authorities have not publicly released any evidence to support the charges.
Gershkovich appeared in court with his head shaved as the trial began. His employer, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), called the court proceedings "secret," as no independent reporters, friends, family members, or embassy staff will be allowed inside the courtroom.
The trial is expected to last months, and as acquittals in Russia are rare, it is expected to result in a guilty verdict. If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison.
The day before, WSJ's editor-in-chief Emma Tucker published a letter criticizing the trial as a "travesty of justice" and said, "we already know the conclusion."
"This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job."
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also commented on the trial on June 25, saying that he did not "expect a free and fair trial, given that these are charges that never should have been brought in the first place."
Miller said that the U.S. would continue to "do everything we can to try to bring" him and other jailed U.S. citizens home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in December 2023 that he would be open to negotiating the returnof jailed U.S. citizens, including Gershkovich, under "mutually acceptable" conditions.
Russia has also jailed Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who has dual Russian and U.S. citizenship, on charges of failing to identify as a foreign agent. Kurmasheva has been in pre-trial detention since October 2023.
Earlier in June, the trial of Ksenia Karelina, who also has dual Russian and U.S. citizenship, began in Yekaterinburg. Karelina has been charged with treason on the grounds that she donated $51.80 to the nonprofit organization Razom for Ukraine.
Katie Marie Davies
