"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.
A general view of the city of Stepanakert, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, taken from a former Armenian separatists military position in the village of Mukhtar retaken recently by Azeri troops in Azerbaijan's controlled region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Oct. 3, 2023. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Azerbaijan's security services arrested three former presidents of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic — Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan — Azerbaijani media reported on Oct. 3.
David Ishkhanyan, an ex-parliamentary speaker of Nagorno-Karabakh, was also detained and brought to Baku with the other three politicians, according to the state-owned Azerbaijani Press Agency (APA).
All four former Karabakh leaders are facing criminal charges in Azerbaijan, but APA didn't mention what accusations Baku had made against them.
On the same day, the Armenian state news outlet Armenpress reported that three other top officials from the recently dissolved Nagorno-Karabakh's unrecognized government had safely reached Armenia.
Following Azerbaijan's military offensive launched on Sept. 19, Karabakh authorities agreed to accept a ceasefire mediated by Russia and signed a decree dissolving all official institutions of the breakaway state from Jan. 1, 2024.
Following Azerbaijan's victory, around 100,000 people have left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, a spokesperson for the Armenian prime minister said on Sept. 29.
On Sept. 27, Azerbaijani authorities detained Ruben Vardanyan, a former self-proclaimed prime minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, as he was trying to leave for Armenia.
Under international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as Azerbaijani territory but came under the de-facto control of Armenian separatists in 1991. Yerevan supported the breakaway territory militarily, which regularly clashed with Azerbaijani forces in the following decades.
Martin Fornusek
