"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.
Signage for U.S. broadcaster Voice of America is seen in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2025. (Bonnie Cash/AFP via Getty Images)
A U.S. federal judge on April 22 ordered the Trump administration to restore all employees and contractors at Voice of America (VoA), saying the administration's efforts to dismantle the outlet likely violated U.S. law.
As part of his administration's wide-reaching funding cuts, U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to gut the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VoA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Radio Free Asia.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction and ordered the administration to restore all employees and contractors to their news programs. The decision comes less than a month after a court on March 28 issued a restraining order to prevent the mass firing of some 1,300 VoA employees.
"(The administration) took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM ... without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world," Lamberth said.
"It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here."
Lamberth ordered the reinstatement of all employees and the restoration of VoA programming so that it can "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news."
VoA is a government-funded media founded in 1942, broadcasting in almost 50 languages around the world.
Trump has denounced the outlet as "radical propaganda" and issued an executive order on March 14 slashing funding for USAGM. A week earlier, Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) carried out an inspection of VoA that resulted in the dismissal of Ukrainian journalist Ostap Yarysh.
DOGE is headed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who has called to "shut down" public media.
"It's just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of U.S. taxpayer money," Musk said on Feb. 9.
DOGE's efforts to reshape the government through dramatic funding cuts have faced ongoing legal challenges in U.S. courts.
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.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
