U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, taking the name Pope Leo XIV, a senior cardinal announced on May 8 to crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, according to Vatican News.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), this marks the first time Ukrainian authorities have exposed a Hungarian military intelligence network conducting activities harmful to Ukraine.
George Simion, leader of Romania's far-right AUR party, who won the first round of the presidential election with nearly 40% of the vote, reiterated that if elected, he would oppose any further assistance to Ukraine and shift Romania’s focus inward.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed their countries' relationship on May 8, vowing to increase cooperation in all areas, including military ties.
"There is Turkey, which maintains channels of communication. And then, above all, there is the People's Republic of China, which, more than anyone else, has the means to make (Russian President Vladimir) Putin come to the negotiating table and soften his demands," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on May 8.
The United States will be ready to "walk away" from the negotiating table if it does not see Russia making progress in negotiation to end the war, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on May 8.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in Moscow on May 9 to celebrate Victory Day, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
US President Donald Trump on May 8 called for a "30-day unconditional ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia. Writing on Truth Social, Trump expressed his hope for "an acceptable ceasefire," with both countries "held accountable for respecting the sanctity of... direct negotiations."
President Volodymyr Zelensky had a "constructive" phone call with United States President Donald Trump on May 8, discussing the war, continued pressure on Russia, and a potential ceasefire.
The survey, conducted between April 24 and May 4, shows that 56.9% of respondents would not be willing to compromise on either territorial integrity or Ukraine’s pro-Western direction in any potential talks with Moscow.
Despite the Kremlin’s announcement of a May 8–11 truce, heavy fighting continued in multiple regions throughout the day.
Moscow-installed proxies in the Russian-occupied town of Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast, fired employees of a local hospital for not obtaining Russian citizenship, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on April 11.
Snizhne, located just 18 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border and adjacent to the administrative border between Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, has been occupied by Russian troops since 2014.
Moscow has used a simplified procedure to hand out Russian passports in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts occupied since its first invasion of Ukraine's Donbas region. Russia has distributed around a million Russian passports on Ukrainian territory since 2019.
The General Staff also reported other cases of Russia's pressure on residents of Ukraine's occupied territories, saying that Russian occupation authorities in Zaporizhzhia Oblast's city of Enerhodar forced locals to obtain permission to move around the region.
"Those who applied for permits are subject to increased checks by the occupiers for involvement in the defense forces of Ukraine. In some cases, the invaders even search people's homes," reads the report.
On April 7, the Ukrainian military's National Resistance Center wrote that Moscow-installed proxies in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine had increasingly forced civilians to obtain Russin passports, resorting to violence against those who refused to do it.
In Ukraine's south, Russia currently occupies the territories on the east bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, the larger part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and the Crimean peninsula (since 2014).
Russia declared the "annexation" of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts in September 2022, after Russia's proxies held sham referendums in the occupied parts of these regions and claimed that 87% to 99% of the participants "voted" to join Russia, depending on the region.
On July 13, European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the EU wouldn't recognize Russian passports issued to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
