"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."
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.
An employee walks at the workshop of the "Forges de Tarbes" which produces 155mm shells, the munition for French Caesar artillery guns in use by the Ukrainian armed forces, in Tarbes, southwestern France, on April 4, 2023. (Lionel Bonaventure /AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian defense industry representatives are considering launching domestic NATO-standard 155 mm shells production not until "the second half of this year," the Washington Post reported on March 20, citing an anonymous source from Ukraine's state-owned military enterprise Ukroboronprom.
NATO-standard 155 mm shells are necessary for the artillery systems supplied by Ukraine's Western allies.
NATO-standard 155 mm shells are "desperately short supply" on the front, the Washington Post says. The Ukroboronprom official told the media outlet that production would not begin until "the second half" of 2024. The official did not provide any further details.
Ukraine is trying to ramp up its domestic ammunition production to become more independent from Western backers. In the summer of 2023, Ukroboronprom said that it had already mastered the productionof 82 mm mortar mines, 122 mm and 152 mm artillery rounds, as well as 125 mm tank shells.
The next step for Ukraine's state-owned military enterprise was to launch the production of NATO-caliber rounds, but since then, no new information has been provided.
Delays in U.S. military assistance, caused by disputes in Congress, have already had a direct impact on the battlefield, contributing to the loss of the key front-line city of Avdiivka.
Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Martin Fornusek
