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.
The shooting occurred around 3:22 p.m. local time in Sofiivska Borshchahivka, a residential area in Bucha district, according to the Kyiv regional police.
Lawmakers urged the EU and its member states to step up efforts to hold Moscow accountable through international courts and support for Ukraine’s campaign to bring its children home.
The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York sat down with author, historian, and Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of the country’s biggest public events of the year. President of the Ukrainian Society of Switzerland Andrej Lushnycky who sheds some light on the things Putin would rather you didn’t know about World War II.
Washington’s involvement may also help mitigate political opposition in Europe, while giving the U.S. strategic visibility over future Russian energy flows, sources told Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting of Russia's Security Council at Kremlin in Moscow on Feb. 21, 2022. (Kremlin Press Office via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the rightful borders of the illegitimate Russia-backed "states" in eastern Ukraine extend to the whole region of the Donbas, which is considerably bigger than the currently occupied areas.
The announcement further escalates the tension that spiked after Russia officially recognized the two proxies late on Feb. 21.
The Russian-controlled militants control a portion of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, separated from the Ukrainian forces that hold the rest by a 420-kilometer contact line.
As Russia vowed to help the "independent states" militarily, this raises the strong possibility of military confrontation with Ukrainian forces that will defend their territory.
Putin said that the borders of the two pseudo-states are right in their constitutions, which declare that each controls the entire Ukrainian region. Putin said that all disputes would be settled during their talks with Kyiv.
Kyiv has refused to talk to the militants occupying eastern Ukraine, insisting that they are not a separate entity but are controlled by Russia.
Leaders of both Kremlin-backed groups have insisted that they have a claim to the entire region in which they are located.
Earlier, Russia was vague on where the borders would be drawn. Russian TV channel Rossiya 24 quoted international committee chair Andrei Klimov as saying that the new “states” would encompass “territories… within the borders that are established today.”
However, Leonid Kalashnikov, head of the committee on Commonwealth of Independent States affairs said that the borders would be defined by the illegitimate referendums that were staged in the occupied areas in 2014. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not clarify further.
Colonel (retired) Viktor Kevlyuk from the Center for Defense Strategies says that Putin’s cooperation decrees with the militant “republics” do not contain anything about the size of the territories recognized independent by him, which leaves room for maneuver.
Igor is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously covered conflict in the Middle East, investigated corruption in Ukraine and man-made environmental damage in Southeast Asia. He has a Master’s in Journalism from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and was published in the Kyiv Post, USA Today, The Atlantic, Daily Beast and Foreign Policy.
