"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.
Pavlo Vovk, head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court. (Kyiv District Administrative Court)
The U.S. Department of State on Dec. 9 sanctioned Pavlo Vovk, head of Ukraine's Kyiv District Administrative Court, to commemorate International Anti-Corruption Day, imposing visa restrictions on the controversial judge and potentially blocking his assets.
"The Department of State is designating Vovk for soliciting bribes in return for interfering in judicial and other public processes," the department said in a statement. "As part of this action, two immediate family members are also designated."
Vovk has become a symbol of injustice, lawlessness, and impunity in Ukraine. Cases against him have been blocked and sabotaged by prosecutors, investigators, and courts for several years.
Vovk and other judges of his court have been charged with usurpation of power, obstruction of justice, organized crime, and abuse of authority. Despite the charges, Vovk remains the head of his court, which resumed work under his leadership in April after suspending operations in February due to the Russian invasion.
The corruption case against Vovk was sent to the High Anti-Corruption Court in June.
In April 2021, Zelensky submitted an “urgent” parliamentary bill to liquidate Vovk's court. However, the bill has been blocked for more than one and a half years by parliament, where the president's party holds an absolute majority.
'Political prostitution'
In audio recordings published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in 2019-2021, Vovk is heard discussing numerous corrupt deals, giving illegal orders, and joking that no one should doubt the court’s “political prostitution.” One of the judges of his court was recorded as saying that he supports “any lawlessness in the judiciary.”
“We are unique. We are the only court that has survived all of them for five years. Unliquidated, unreformed, unassessed,” Vovk quipped, according to the NABU tapes, in reference to his efforts to block his court from being reformed, reviewed, or liquidated under multiple governments.
Vovk has been paid for court rulings and organized fake lawsuits and fake selection procedures for state jobs, according to the content of the tapes. The tapes show that he has used corrupt schemes to influence and pressure the judiciary’s two main bodies – the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission. He has also interfered with the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the State Investigation Bureau, and the National Agency for Corruption Prevention.
Obstruction of justice
The current charges were brought against Vovk in 2020.
Since then, Vovk has ignored summonses from the NABU.
In 2021 Andriy Bitsyuk, a judge at the High Anti-Corruption Court, refused to extend the corruption investigation against Vovk. He ordered prosecutors to send it to trial within five days or close the investigation.
This created the risk that the case could be closed since a similar court ruling was used as the grounds for closing a different obstruction of justice case against Vovk.
In November 2022, the High Anti-Corruption Court had to issue an order to have Vovk brought to trial by force, and he appeared in court for the first time.
Oleg Sukhov is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is a former editor and reporter at the Moscow Times. He has a master's degree in history from the Moscow State University. He moved to Ukraine in 2014 due to the crackdown on independent media in Russia and covered war, corruption, reforms and law enforcement for the Kyiv Post.
