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.
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.
Former State Department special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker testifies before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 19, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and special representative for Ukraine, was adamant during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv on Sept. 7.
"There is no reason to hesitate to invest in Ukraine," he said, calling investors to believe in the country's future success.
Volker is among dozens of political figures coming to Ukraine for the Yalta Security Conference (YES), held in Kyiv late this week to discuss the country's strategic development.
Volker tackled the wrong expectations of Western observers over Ukraine's counteroffensive, often described as "too slow" at best.
"When you're imagining some kind of rapid, you know, regain of territory, that's not the way to think," Volker said.
Volker also advocated for a larger military aid package from the U.S. to speed up Ukraine's advances.
"The administration and Congress need to consider making that a much bigger number because if we keep it at the level that it's at, $24 billion, we're going to have to do it again next year during an election year," he said.
"I would argue to make it a larger number. Do it once to cover all of the election year and then stop announcing every two weeks some new amount of money," he said, referring to the numerous announcements of hundreds of millions of dollars of help from the approximate $45 billion provided since Russia began its full-scale war.
He said it was paramount to avoid alienating American voters before the U.S. presidential elections next year. "Do it once, get it done," he said.
He added that the military aid is not in cash, and thus, the risk of corruption over such help is small.
"We're not giving cash to Ukraine," he said. "We count up that value, and that's the dollar amount that we claim, and so the opportunity for corruption is extremely low compared to what was just providing cash to Ukraine."
Volker also criticized the speed of weapons delivery to the country, saying the Ukrainian army should have been "trained and equipped" right after the EuroMaidan Revolution when Russia waged its first invasion of Ukraine through proxies in Donbas and the annexation of Crimea.
The diplomat called the discussions over the delivery of F-16 to Ukraine that started in 2022 "a year lost."
"We did nowhere near enough, nowhere fast enough, even with the F-16 decision," he said.
Alexander Query is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is the former business editor at the Kyiv Post. He worked as a TV correspondent and an anchorman at UATV in Ukraine, and received a BA in modern literature from La Sorbonne, in Paris.
Anastasiia Lapatina
