"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 passanger train collided with a freighter in Pardubice, Czechia, late on June 5, 2024. (Fire and Rescue Service of the Pardubice region/X)
Editor's note: The article was updated at 11:15 a.m. with Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's statement and at 2:35 p.m. with a statement from the Czech Rail Safety Inspection Office.
A passenger train with several railcars traveling to Chop in western Ukraine collided with a cargo train in Czechia late on June 5, leaving at least four dead and dozens injured, the Czech police said.
The death toll included two Ukrainian women, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, adding that the citizenship of the other two fatalities is being determined. Ukrainian Railways previously said that there were no fatalities or injuries in the railcars with passengers heading to Chop.
The tragic incident, involving a 1021 Prague-Kosice train operated by the Czech private company RegioJet and a CD Cargo freighter, occurred shortly before midnight near a new train station in the Czech city of Pardubice.
Over 300 passengers were reportedly on board of the passenger train, whose frontal part suffered the heaviest damage.
The country's Rail Safety Inspection Office said that the passenger train missed a traffic light barring entry and entered a track of the freighter, leading to the collision.
Whether this was caused by a technical malfunction or a human error is currently being investigated, the office said.
The RegioJet train Prague-Przemysl, a connection regularly used by Ukrainians traveling between Czechia and Ukraine, is expected to be delayed.
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.
Martin Fornusek
