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The visit marks Merz’s first trip to Ukraine, and the first time all four leaders have travelled there together.
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Saturday, May 10
A notice about the airspace closure was published on the U.S. Defense Department's NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) website on May 10, as cited by Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi.
"As in the past, it is now for Russia to show its willingness to achieve peace," the EU's statement reads.
(Updated: )Resistance
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"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."
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"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.
Saturday, May 10
"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.
Ukraine is preparing for another possible Russian attack from the north, Major General Andrii Kovalchuk, head of Southern Operational Command, told Sky News.
Kovalchuk said Ukraine’s forces would need more military support to be ready to combat Russians, adding that the heaviest fighting might still be ahead.
"We are considering a possible offensive from Belarus at the end of February, maybe later," Major General Kovalchuk said. "It will no longer be the case that they will simply walk in, as was the case on Feb. 24," he said.
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Belarus Weekly
Kovalchuk's comments echo other similar reports by Ukraine's military leadership.
On Dec. 15, Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the Economist that Russia is preparing a new attack on Ukraine “as soon as January, but more likely in the spring.” He added that Russians might again attempt to attack Kyiv. Russians failed to sack Kyiv in February-March 2022.
Russia sent 12,000 mobilized troops to Belarus as of Nov. 25, according to the Ukrainian military’s National Resistance Center.
Russia also deployed military equipment, including supersonic aircraft, to Belarus.
As Belarus continued to engage in covert mobilization, Minsk conducted "verification of the military conscripts."
The Institute for the Study of War noted on Dec. 13 that Belarus is unlikely to invade Ukraine because of the risk of renewed domestic unrest if its security system is weakened by involvement in a costly war against Ukraine.
Belarus Weekly: Russia re-deploys MiG-31K supersonic aircraft to Belarus
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