"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.
Activist Serhii Sternenko during interview to Ukrainian media in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 18, 2024. (Oleg Palchyk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukrainian activist and volunteer Serhii Sternenko has been injured in an attack, he said in a post on Telegram on May 1.
Sternenko said his life is not in danger and that the attacker has been detained.
"They operated on me. The bullet went through. It didn't hit anything vital. I'm trying to get my head straight… I'm very lucky the injury turned out this way," he posted on Telegram.
"Russians are f**kers," he wrote, adding: "I am grateful to the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) for their quick response. If not for them, I wouldn't be able to write anything anymore. They quite literally saved my life."
A video of the attack was published by Ukrainska Pravda on May 1, showing a woman standing outside a residential building who then opens fire at Sternenko as he exits the building with two other men. One of the men tackles the woman to the ground, as Sternenko and another man leave the site in a car.
According to the SBU, the attack on Sternenko was an attempted assassination involving a firearm. The suspect was allegedly recruited remotely by Russian special services while seeking "quick money" online.
In mid-April, she began monitoring Sternenko, moving into a residential complex near his home. She later received coordinates for a "cache" where firearms were hidden.
She was quickly detained, and during a search, authorities found a phone with evidence of her collaboration with Russia, along with components for an improvised explosive device in another apartment.
Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention without bail until June 29. The woman faces up to 15 years in prison.
A photo showing the suspect in the attack on activist and volunteer Serhii Sternenko, published by the SBU on May 1, 2025. (SBU)
Born in 1979 in Odesa Oblast but registered in Kyiv, she reportedly received money for the assassination from Russian intelligence services through her bank accounts, withdrew the funds, and carried out the surveillance.
Serhii Sternenko, 30, is a prominent Kyiv-based activist also known for helping the military. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, he has played a key role in popularizing first-person-view (FPV) drones, raising funds to supply them and other equipment to the front lines. In January, he launched the Sternenko Community Foundation.
The foundation claims to be the largest non-governmental supplier of FPV drones, having purchased more than 176,000 of them as of May 1.
Sternenko also runs a YouTube channel, with over 2 million subscribers, and his Telegram channel has over 840,000 readers.
Sternenko has faced attacks in the past. In one of the three incidents when Sternenko was attacked, the activist inflicted a fatal injury to an attacker in 2018 whilst protecting himself and his girlfriend, according to his lawyer Illia Vorobiov.
It is unclear to this day who had organized the attack that appeared to be an attempt to silence Sternenko, an active participant during the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution and a vocal critic of local authorities in Odesa, Vorobiov added.
In December 2023, an Odesa court closed a case against Sternenko for the death of a man who attacked him in 2018.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Abbey Fenbert
