"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.
Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova during a news conference with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 13, 2023. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ukraine won't hold elections until Russia's war is over, Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova told Suspilne in an interview published on Feb. 4.
Markarova's statement comes after Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, called for parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine by the end of the year, especially if Kyiv reaches a ceasefire deal with Moscow.
Elections are banned from being held in Ukraine during martial law, which has been in effect since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The U.S. hasn't yet discussed with Ukraine the necessity of holding elections by the end of 2025, according to Markarova.
"Ukraine and America are free countries. Everyone can speak their mind. If this issue is addressed, we are certainly ready for this discussion, as we have done before. We will be very happy if elections are held in Ukraine because it will mean that we have won this war," Markarova said.
Kellogg previously argued that most democratic nations hold elections during wartime and that doing so would strengthen Ukraine's democracy.
Under martial law, presidential, parliamentary, and local elections are banned in Ukraine.
If martial law had not been imposed, a presidential election would have been held on March 31, 2024, and President Volodymyr Zelensky's term would have ended on May 20, 2024.
To be able to hold elections during martial law, Ukraine would need to make changes to the legislature, as well as set up infrastructure for Ukrainian refugees abroad, military personnel on duty, and Ukrainians living in areas close to the war zone to be able to vote.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian attacks have destroyed some of Ukraine's electoral infrastructure.
Ukraine does not currently have the appropriate infrastructure or mechanism to organize elections that guarantee all citizens' electoral and political rights, according to Ukrainian Civili Network Opora.
Earlier on Jan. 2, Zelensky suggested that if the "hot phase of the war is over," the parliament could lift martial law and set a date for elections.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Kateryna Hodunova
