"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.
Illustrative purposes only: Work of sea trading port of the Ust-Luga. Russia, in June 2015. (Konstik/Getty Images)
The Russian munitions carrier Maia-1 passed the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea as it is likely heading for the Russian port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea, the Open Source Center (OSC) research group said on Feb. 19.
This would mark the first time that the Russian-flagged vessel, sanctioned by the U.S. and the EU, entered European waters, the Financial Times noted.
Maia-1, owned by the sanctioned MG-Flot company, has reportedly made at least nine voyages to North Korea in the past five months.
North Korea has become Moscow's leading supporter in its war against Ukraine, providing artillery, shells, ballistic missiles, and over up to 12,000 soldiers for deployment in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
The MarineTraffic monitoring channel shows Maia-1 north of Egypt's Mediterranean coast and well past the Suez Canal as of Feb. 20, heading west. The content of Maia-1's cargo remains unclear.
Joe Byrne, a senior OSC analyst, told the Financial Times that Maia-1's trip is meant to "test" the Western resolve in enforcing sanctions.
Ust-Luga, Maia-1's declared destination, lies in Russia's northeastern Leningrad Oblast, only some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border with NATO member Estonia. The city's port has reportedly served as a key hub for Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers used to avoid sanctions.
Russia has also been building a new liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Baltic port, though Western sanctions have hampered the process.
A Ukrainian drone strike against the Ust-Luga port was reported in January, while an oil tanker exploded at the port under unclear circumstances the following month.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
