"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 screenshot from a video posted by the 225th battalion of Ukraine's Armed Forces showing soldiers removing a Russian flag from a building in Darino, Kursk Oblast, Russia. (225th Battalion)
Ukraine's 225th Separate Assault Battalion published on Aug. 12 a video showing Ukrainian soldiers removing a Russian flag in the village of Darino in Russia's Kursk Oblast as Kyiv's offensive continues into the seventh day.
The Ukrainian military launched a surprise incursion across the border into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, bringing regular Ukrainian forces into Russia for the first time.
Kyiv has so far maintained a policy of silence on the incursion, despite the ongoing fighting and Ukraine advancing deeper into Russian territory.
Previously, videos of Ukrainian soldiers on Russian soil, including those from the town of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast and Belgorod Oblast, were shared on Telegram channels. The video published by the 225th battalion is the first footage from the Russian region published by the Ukrainian military officially.
"Darino. Fighters from the 225th Separate Assault Battalion are removing a rag from the administrative building after clearing it," the caption reads.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the location.
Darino is located some 4 kilometers (2 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Russian pro-war Telegram channels claimed that Ukrainian forces reached it on Aug. 7.
Russia's regional authorities said that Ukraine is in control of 28 settlements in Kursk Oblast as of Aug. 12, claiming that the incursion was up to 12 kilometers deep along a 40 kilometer front.
Earlier on Aug. 9, Russia's Defense Ministry said it was sending additional military equipment to Kursk Oblast's Sudzha district, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.
Alexey Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk Oblast, said that 121,000 people had so far been evacuated and another 59,000 needed to leave.
Francis Farrell
