"(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.
Ukrainian civilians murdered by Russian soldiers while trying to evacuate from Iripin, Kyiv Oblast, in March 2022. (Photo: National Police)
Investigators have identified three members of the Russian military who were allegedly involved in the shooting of Ukrainian civilians trying to escape Irpin in March 2022, according to Ivan Dulkai, senior investigator from the Main Investigative Department of the National Police.
They include the commander of the reconnaissance platoon of the 173rd separate reconnaissance battalion, and two soldiers from the 137th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 106th Guards Airborne Division.
Police have established that between March 5-6, 2022, the Russian military shot at 10 vehicles on Oleha Koshevoho and Nezalezhnosti streets. As a result of the attacks, nine people trying to evacuate were killed and 12 more were injured.
According to Dulkai, Russian soldiers threw a grenade into the first car of the evacuation convoy, which included a family with a 1.5-year-old child. The driver died on the spot and the front-seat passenger later succumbed to his injuries. The woman with her child survived.
Russian soldiers continued to shoot at other vehicles in the convoy despite them not posing any threat. They then took the survivors and held them for several hours in a captured house, but "they did not allow anyone to take away the severely wounded who were lying on the ground and slowly dying, nor did they allow the bodies of the dead to be taken away," according to Dulkai.
The police conducted their investigation by collecting survivor testimonies to gain a better understanding of what happened at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
"The main task of law enforcement officers is to identify war criminals and bring them to justice both in Ukrainian and international courts," said Dulkai.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
