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.
"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."
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on February 21, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is scheduled to discuss a possible ceasefire deal in the Black Sea with his Russian counterpart later on March 25, Fox News reported.
Waltz has been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin's top aide, Yuri Ushakov, to hammer out conditions on a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
The resumption of a Black Sea Initiative that would include a cessation of hostilities in the Black Sea was the key focus of the talks between U.S. and Russian delegates in Riyadh on March 24.
Neither party revealed details about the 12-hour talks, which were followed by a brief meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian teams on March 25. Russian negotiator Grigory Karasin said that many issues had been discussed during the meeting, but "not everything was resolved."
The so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative was first brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in 2022 to allow Ukraine to ship out its grain despite Russia's ongoing invasion. The deal broke down a year later after Russia withdrew from the deal, claiming that its demands, namely pertaining to its fertilizer industry, had not been addressed.
Despite the initial deal breaking down in 2023, Ukraine has managed to unilaterally reopen the Black Sea corridor, in large part thanks to a sustained drone and missile campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Fox News also reported that Waltz does not plan to resign after reports of leaks of U.S. plans for strikes against Yemen. The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported on March 24 that he was accidentally added by a user named Mike Waltz to a Signal chat where top Trump administration officials discussed plans for the operation.
This prompted rumors that Waltz might be forced out as a result of the embarrassing security breach. The advisor told his colleagues he had never met or spoken to Goldberg, according to Fox News.
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.
The Kyiv Independent
