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.
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."
"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.
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 93rd brigade covers his ears while firing a French 120mm rifled towed mortar towards Russian positions in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast on Feb. 15, 2023. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP via Getty Images)
Russia is incurring heavy losses amid its near round-the-clock assault on the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast.
Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wager Group and Russian-backed militant groups active in eastern Ukraine are losing up to 80% of some assault units, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram. "Evacuation of the dead and wounded is limited or not carried out at all," she wrote.
Malyar also said that the situation in the front-line town is very tense and difficult for Ukrainian forces. "You can see for yourself what kind of war the Russian Federation is waging," she said, adding that Ukrainian forces are holding back Russian advances in the area.
Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Ukraine's Armed Forces, also said on Feb. 15 on national TV that Russian troops had lost 119 people killed and 163 wounded near Bakhmut over the last 24 hours.
According to Malyar, Russia's significant losses are partly due to a low level of trust in the Russian military command.
"More and more Russian servicemen realize that their commanders inadequately assess the situation on the battlefield, as evidenced by the intensive use of so-called "death squads" - units staffed by insufficiently trained mobilized personnel, who daily suffer heavy combat and sanitary losses," she wrote.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, claimed on Feb. 15 that Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast could be surrounded in March or April. Prigozhin added, though, that it is "hard to predict," and Russia's success in surrounding the town partially depends on the amount of Western weaponry supplied to Ukraine.
Russian regular forces, along with Kremlin-controlled mercenary group Wagner, have been attempting to capture Bakhmut for months as Russia tries to consolidate its grip over the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast, around half of which it currently controls.
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