"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. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former U.S. President Donald Trump secretly spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after he left office, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Oct. 8, citing a book by journalist Bob Woodward.
According to Woodward's latest book "War," the two might have spoken a half-dozen other times after Trump left the White House in 2020, the unnamed aide claimed.
Putin and Trump allegedly spoke even as the latter was reportedly pressuring Republicans to block the $60 billion aid package for Kyiv.
Trump's views on Ukraine are causing concern among Ukraine's partner countries, as the ex-president seeks re-election this November, sparking fears his potential cutting of military support as Ukraine struggles to hold the line against intense Russian offensives.
In early 2024, Trump ordered an aide out of his office at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to hold a phone call with Putin, the book alleged.
Trump also allegedly secretly sent Putin COVID-19 test devices for personal use at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. In a phone conversation with Trump, the Russian president asked his U.S. counterpart not to publicly disclose this information, the NYT reported.
"I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me," Putin told Trump, according to the book.
After the start of the pandemic, Putin drastically reduced his amount of personal contacts, and many of those he met have reportedly been forced to quarantine. The Russian president claimed he had been vaccinated, without elaborating on which vaccine.
The Trump campaign denied the reports, calling the stories from the Woodward's book "made up."
The NYT reported earlier in October that Trump asked Putin for advice when deciding on whether to send arms to Ukraine early during his presidency in 2017.
The ex-president has promised to end the full-scale war within a day if elected but has not publicly elaborated on how he plans to achieve that. One plan reportedly involves Kyiv ceding territory to Russia.
Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic rival, said in an interview aired on Oct. 7 that if she is elected, she would refuse to engage in peace talks with Putin without Ukraine’s involvement.
Trump met Zelensky during the latter's visit to the U.S. at the end of September, during which he touted his supposed "good relationship" with both the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
James Greenwood
