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."
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.
Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia during Warsaw Security Forum 2024, in Warsaw, Poland on Oct. 1, 2024. (Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Entering the Georgian parliament following the widely disputed results of Tbilisi's October parliamentary elections is the same as entering Russia, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said during an interview with local television on Nov. 22.
"Whoever enters the parliament today will enter Russia," she told the Georgian broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi.
Zourabichvili has accused the ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party of rigging the recent elections and refused to accept the stated results. Along with other opposition party leaders, she has called for public demonstrations and a parliamentary boycott.
"I am sure that the parties will not enter the parliament," she said.
According to Zourabichvili, the 2024 elections were defined by fraud on an unprecedented scale.
"There was, as always, what I call 'normal rigging,' and they make fun of me for it, but the feeling that the elections and the country were stolen from us did not exist," she said.
"The situation is very different. Today, whoever enters the parliament will enter Russia."
Official results of the October election show Georgian Dream securing nearly 54% of the vote, but pro-EU opposition leaders and international observers have highlighted widespread allegations of intimidation, ballot-stuffing, and vote-buying.
Zourabichvili also insists that if Georgian Dream continues to stand by the allegedly fraudulent election results, they will govern alone.
"They are alone," she said.
"They are alone in the parliament, they are alone in the government. The government, the parliament, is one-party, under the vertical of one person, and all the institutions that exist in the country are completely dependent on this one party."
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.
Martin Fornusek
