"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.
Maryna Aleksiiva and Vladyslava Aleksiiva of Team Ukraine compete in the Duet Technical Routine on day 14 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Aquatics Centre on Aug. 9, 2024 in Paris, France. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva, twin sisters representing Team Ukraine in artistic swimming, won fifth place in the duet final at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 10.
The pair performed in the technical program on Aug. 9 and the free swimming program on Aug. 10, finishing fifth overall. The Aleksiiva sisters are Ukraine's only athletes competing in artistic swimming at the Paris Games.
Ukraine previously won a bronze medal in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, with Anastasiia Savchuk and Marta Fiedina representing the national team.
The Aleksiiva sisters scored a total of 538.6684 points in the Paris final. The gold medal went to China's Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, with 566.4783 points.
Great Britain's Kate Shorman and Isabelle Thorpe took silver, while the Netherlands' Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer won the bronze medal.
The Aleksiivas have described the difficulties of training for the Olympics during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. Their training center is near a tank factory in Kharkiv frequently targeted by Russian attacks, the sisters told CNN.
"It really influenced our training in a bad way, both mentally and physically, the fact that we could not train like other countries in normal conditions," Maryna Aleksiiva said.
Ukraine is currently ranked 21st in the Paris Olympics, with three gold medals, five silver, and four bronze.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Kateryna Hodunova
