"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.
The entrance to the Russian city of Belgorod, some 40 kilometers from border with Ukraine, on May 28, 2023. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian troops "destroyed" a command post of the Third Motor Rifle Division of the 20th Army of the Russian Armed Forces near the village of Demidovka in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on March 18, Ukraine's General Staff reported on March 20.
The news comes days after Moscow claimed that Ukrainian troops allegedly launched an offensive on Belgorod Oblast. Russian reports emerged on March 18 ahead of the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, rejected Russia's claims, while President Volodymyr Zelensky neither confirmed nor denied Ukrainian operations in Belgorod Oblast.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia used the command post to plan and conduct combat operations against Ukrainian soldiers in Sumy Oblast.
Sumy Oblast borders Russia's Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts. Amid Russia's breakthrough in embattled Kursk Oblast, Zelensky said on March 15 that Russian soldiers were amassing at the border to prepare to launch an attack on Ukraine's northeastern region.
Demidovka lies around five kilometers (three miles) east of the Ukrainian border.
"Its (command post's) elimination significantly reduces the ability of the units of the Third Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Federation to operate effectively on the battlefield," the statement read.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
"We have seen a new concentration of troops on the border with Sumy Oblast. We can see what they want to do — they want to strike Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts," Zelensky said on March 18 when asked about alleged Ukraine's offensive on Belgorod Oblast. "We will not let them do it so easily."
Belgorod Oblast is regularly used by Russia to launch strikes against Ukrainian territory. At the same time, Belgorod Oblast authorities have repeatedly accused Ukraine of launching attacks against the region and Belgorod city throughout the full-scale war.
Recently, multiple clashes have been reported in the region amid Ukraine's ongoing cross-border incursion focused on neighboring Kursk Oblast.
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.
Andrea Januta
