U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the comments.
A notice about the airspace closure was published on the U.S. Defense Department's NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) website on May 10, as cited by Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"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."
A prisoner of war camp guard escorts a Russian POW following a phone call home at a POW detention center in western Ukraine in late September 2023. Photo for illustrative purposes. (The Kyiv Independent)
Ukraine's project "Khochu naiti" (I want to find) has helped to locate 588 missing Russian soldiers since its launch in January, as reported on the service's Telegram channel on Aug. 5.
Some 533 of the Russian soldiers were found alive among prisoners of war (POW), and 100 of them had already been released to Russia as a part of a prisoner exchange.
Fifty-five were identified as deceased. The remains of 33 of them were handed over to Russia.
The service said it had received 20,098 requests from relatives of Russian soldiers since the start of the year.
The project was launched in January by Ukraine's POW Coordination Headquarters as a sign of Ukraine's commitment to the principles of international humanitarian law, its website reads.
"Russian officials do not properly communicate with the relatives of soldiers. No one informs the families about what happens to Russian Army servicemen after they end up as invaders and occupiers in Ukraine," Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov said when presenting the project.
"(The project) concerns the missing soldiers, POWs, and those killed."
In September 2022, Ukraine's POW Coordination Headquarters launched the project "Khochu Zhit" (I want to live) with the support of the Defense Ministry and military intelligence.
The project was created for Russian and Belarusian service members to surrender as prisoners of war voluntarily.
The spokesperson for the "Khochu Zhyt" project said on March 31 that they receive 50 to 100 appeals from Russian soldiers and their relatives every day.
Daria is a newsroom intern at the Kyiv Independent. She is a Media and Communication BSc student at the University of Surrey, U.K. She also studied Journalism and Social Communications at Kyiv's National University of Taras Shevchenko. Daria previously worked as a freelance copywriter and volunteered at a local town newspaper in Guildford, U.K.
Kateryna Denisova
