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."
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.
A woman (L) and her daughter (R) tearfully comfort each other at the grave of their husband and father, who died during the battle for the city of Mariupol in April, 2022, as Ukrainians mourn soldiers killed in Russia's war against Ukraine at a military cemetery in Dnipro, Ukraine, on April 21, 2023. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
Ukraine's population may decrease to 15.3 million people by 2100, according to the United Nations Secretariat's revision of world population projections for 2024.
The population of Ukraine amounted to 37.441 million people by Jan. 1, 2024, while in 2026, it will rise to 39.7 million and then will begin to decline every year, according to the UN.
Oleksandr Hladun, deputy director of Ukraine's Demography Institute, called the UN's forecast "pessimistic."
"It was probably developed with the war in mind and the absence of any demographic policy measures," Hladun told Ukrainska Pravda in an interview published on July 15.
"I would not advise taking the UN's demographic forecast as a real verdict on Ukraine," he added.
Hladun said that there are several categories of demographic forecasts: optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic. Each has its own parameters regarding births, deaths, and migration.
The expert also mentioned that forecasts are divided by duration: short-term (2-5 years, the most accurate), medium-term (10-15 years), and long-term (over 50 years). The accuracy decreases with the increase in time.
"Long-term forecasts should be viewed as a warning of what developments may lead to with certain parameters of births, deaths, and migration," he said.
Ukraine's population could decline to about 30 million by 2037, according to a mid-2023 forecast by the Demography Institute.
"In my opinion, the most pessimistic forecast for Ukraine in the long term is a reduction to 25 million citizens. But even if the population starts to decline rapidly, it will be replaced by people who will migrate from other countries," Hladun said.
Over 14 million people, nearly a third of Ukraine's population, have been forced to flee their homes in the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Feb. 22.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, 4.5 million people have returned to Ukraine, the IOM said.
Another 3.7 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine, while nearly 6.5 million are refugees abroad, according to IOM data.
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
