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.
An advertisement promoting the Wagner mercenary organization in Moscow in April 2023. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian court in the city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Pavel Nikolin, a convicted criminal and former member of the Wagner mercenary group, to six years and eleven months in prison for shooting at local police, Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported on Dec. 18.
In 2022, Russian authorities allowed the Wagner Group to recruit prisoners in Russian jails. Russia's Defense Ministry has also recruited from Russian jails. According to the contracts they signed, the convicts were to be pardoned in exchange for military service.
Nikolin was previously convicted of robbery and was serving a prison sentence when he was allegedly recruited to join the mercenary group to fight in Ukraine, RFE/RL said previously, citing Russian Telegram channels. He allegedly deserted from his unit, taking a machine gun with him.
According to TASS, Nikolin shot at police officers in December 2022 in the suburbs of the city of Novoshakhtinsk, near the border with the region of Donetsk Oblast occupied by Russia.
One police officer was wounded. Nikolin fled the scene but was later detained, and told arresting authorities that he was a member of Wagner.
TASS did not specify if Nikolin was understood to have had a motive for the shooting.
The late founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in June 2023 that 32,000 prisoners who fought for the mercenary group had returned to Russia.
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
