"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 Iranian-made Shahed 131/136 kamikaze drone, a model often used by Russian forces in airstrikes against Ukraine. (Ukraine's Southern Operational Command/Telegram)
Russia plans to produce 6,000 Shahed-type drones per year, in addition to surveillance drones, at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on May 28, referring to a contract leaked by the Prana Network hacker group.
The Russian military has been using cheap but effective drones to attack Ukraine since fall 2022. Western media, such as the New York Times, has reported the cost of each Shahed-136 drone to be as low as $20,000.
Russia is reportedly ramping up domestic production of its own version of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, relying on Chinese components and Iranian technologies.
Moscow signed a deal with Tehran to build the domestic drone plant in late 2022 in Tatarstan, obliging to partly pay $1.7 billion in gold bars, the WSJ said.
The terms of the deal were revealed in February by the Prana Network, which claimed to break into email servers associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Russia aims to reach the production level of 6,000 Shahed attack drones a year at the Alabuga facility, while the factory was already ahead of its production schedule in April, the WSJ said. It has produced 4,500 Shaheds, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Russian personnel are currently learning to operate the drones in Syria with instructors from both the Revolutionary Guard and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, according to Ukraine's military intelligence and a former Syrian officer with conflict-monitor group Etana.
The factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone also produces reconnaissance drones, such as the M3 Albatross, which have collected detailed photographic intelligence on Ukrainian positions and movements on the front line.
The domestic-produced drones also helped to repel Ukrainian attempts of incursion into Belgorod Oblast on the countries' shared border, the manufacturer claimed.
Russia yet needs skilled workers to assemble drones to ramp up its production further, the article read. Moscow started to recruit specialists, mainly young female students, in Africa, according to the WSJ.
Russian businesses offered African students a skilled job paying three times the wage at home, with airfare, free accommodation, and a university diploma to join the work-study program.
Over a thousand women have gone to the Alabuga free zone from all over Africa, while an additional thousand students will likely join in 2024, the WSJ said, citing Ugandan officials.
The Ukrainian military regularly attacks Russian facilities in the Tatarstan Republic.
Soon after, on April 17, a factory in Tatarstan producing bomber aircraft for the Russian military was also attacked by Ukrainian drones, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) source told the Kyiv Independent.
Another Ukrainian attackagainst Russia's Tatarstan Republic was carried out on May 23.
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.
Asami Terajima
