"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.
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.
In this photo illustration, a Telegram App was placed in the IOS App Store on May 3, 2021, in Bargteheide, Germany. (Katja Knupper/Die Fotowerft/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada banned the use of the communication app Telegram for its officials on their work devices, MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said on Oct. 7 in a Facebook post.
Lawmakers and parliament officials will be barred from installing Telegram on work devices and will have to use two-factor authentication and other security measures when using the app for other purposes.
The measure was recommended by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council amid worries that the messaging app, founded by Russian businessman Pavel Durov, represents a danger to national security.
"I think that such security measures are quite logical. Unfortunately, there have already been examples of third parties obtaining data on state employees through Telegram," Yurchyshyn said.
The decision comes after Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk warned of fake messages sent from his Telegram account that he had not used for more than three years.
Lawmakers will be allowed to keep using Telegram for personal communication on their personal devices.
The popularity of Telegram in Ukraine skyrocketed after the start of the invasion in 2022, particularly due to its anonymous channels that mass-spread content to subscribers while preserving the full anonymity of the publisher.
Telegram CEO and co-founder Durov was briefly detained in France and later charged with "complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group" and other crimes.
Russian-born Durov has claimed he is a pariah and has been effectively exiled from Russia, but on Aug. 27, it was reported he had visited Russia over 60 times since leaving the country.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
Kateryna Hodunova
