"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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin (R) smile during the celebration of the Orthodox Easter at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral on April 19, 2025, in Moscow, Russia. President Putin announced an Easter truce with Ukraine to begin at 6 pm local time and run until midnight on April 21st. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attended an Easter service in Moscow on April 20, just hours after the Kremlin declared a temporary ceasefire on the Easter weekend, ordering a halt to all military action from 6 p.m. Moscow time on April 19 until midnight on April 21.
The ceremony took place at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and was led by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a staunch supporter of both Putin and the war in Ukraine.
Despite the Kremlin’s claims of a holiday ceasefire, Ukraine reported ongoing Russian attacks on April 20. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces conducted 387 shellings and 19 assault operations against Ukraine between 6 p.m. and midnight. Russian forces used drones at least 290 times, according to Zelensky.
A video of the service showed Putin standing beside Sobyanin, holding a thin red candle, and wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie—his traditional Easter attire in previous years. The service, a major ritual for Orthodox Christians, began late Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday.
For Putin, the Orthodox faith plays a central role in his worldview, and he regularly attends services during major religious holidays. Easter is considered the most important date on the Orthodox Christian calendar.
According to the state-run RIA Novosti agency, Patriarch Kirill used the opportunity to make a political and spiritual appeal, calling for a "lasting and just peace" in what he referred to as "the vast expanses of historical Rus," a medieval region encompassing parts of modern-day Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
Patriarch Kirill has been one of the war’s most vocal religious backers inside Russia. He has repeatedly defended the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Since February 2022, Russia’s invasion has killed tens of thousands—most of them Ukrainians—and displaced millions from their homes.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Mia Billetdeaux
