"(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.
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Presidents after signing the Trilateral Statement, Moscow, 1994. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Richard Grenell said on March 25 that the Soviet-era nuclear arsenal stationed in Ukraine after the Soviet Union's collapse belonged to Russia, calling it an "uncomfortable fact."
"Let’s be clear about the Budapest Memorandum: the nukes were Russia’s and were leftovers," Grenell said on X.
Ukraine agreed to relinquish its nuclear arms after signing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which also saw the country join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
In exchange, Kyiv received security assurances from major powers, including the U.S., the U.K., and Russia. These guarantees failed to prevent Moscow's aggression in 2014 in Crimea and Donbas and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"Ukraine gave the nukes back to Russia. They weren’t Ukraine’s. This is an uncomfortable fact," Grenell said.
Responding to Trump's envoy, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer said that "Grenell is flat wrong."
"I helped negotiate Budapest Memorandum... Nuclear warheads in Ukraine were ex-Soviet, not Russian."
Stored warheads were in sole Ukrainian custody, while intercontinental ballistic missiles and bomber planes were eliminated, except for those sent to Russia for "debt relief," the former ambassador said.
Pifer reinforced his point by saying that conventional weapons capabilities left in Ukraine after the Soviet Union fell apart, including tanks, artillery, and warplanes, also belonged to Kyiv rather than Moscow.
"They were Soviet, you ignorant a** helmet. So they were as equally Ukraine's as Russia's. This is day one knowledge," said former Congressman Adam Kinziger, who has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine during the full-scale war.
Grenell's comments also found support. Mike Lee, a Republican senator who strongly opposed support for Kyiv and called for a U.S. exit from NATO, shared the envoy's post while saying, "The nukes didn’t belong to Ukraine. And there was never a treaty binding the U.S. to the Budapest Memorandum."
The Budapest Memorandum has been sharply criticized by today's Ukrainian leadership over its lack of strong security guarantees.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Dominic Culverwell
