Ukrainian media outlet ZN.UA reported on May 10 that their law enforcement sources confirmed an ongoing probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into suspected embezzlement, money laundering and bribery.
Iran is preparing to send Russia Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile launchers, Reuters reported on May 9, citing Western security and regional officials familiar with the matter.
"Ukraine and all allies are ready for a complete unconditional ceasefire on land, in the air, and at sea for at least 30 days, starting as early as Monday," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote.
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.
Two service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces prepare a 120 mm mortar to fire at Russian positions as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Sumy Oblast, a few kilometres from the Russian border, Ukraine, on Sept. 30, 2024. (Torrano/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ukrainian special forces from the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center conducted a raid on Russian positions in Kursk Oblast, capturing two Russian soldiers, the Special Operations Forces' press service reported on April 27.
"While the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (Valery) Gerasimov reports the 'liberation' of Kursk Oblast from Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces, operatives of the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center continue to carry out missions in the area successfully," the statement said.
During the operation, a unit from Russia’s 810th Marine Brigade was targeted and destroyed, the Ukrainian military claims.
Ukrainian special forces captured two soldiers during the mission; one was evacuated on a stretcher, while the other was able to walk, the military said.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately confirm the claims.
On April 27, the acting commander of Russia’s 810th Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "scattered groups and individual soldiers" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighting in Kursk Oblast "will soon be destroyed."
The statement contradicted an earlier claim by Gerasimov that Russian forces have fully recaptured the territory of Kursk Oblast, the Russian border region partially held by Ukraine since last August.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Olena Goncharova
