Ukrainian media outlet ZN.UA reported on May 10 that their law enforcement sources confirmed an ongoing probe by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into suspected embezzlement, money laundering and bribery.
Iran is preparing to send Russia Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile launchers, Reuters reported on May 9, citing Western security and regional officials familiar with the matter.
"Ukraine and all allies are ready for a complete unconditional ceasefire on land, in the air, and at sea for at least 30 days, starting as early as Monday," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote.
U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the comments.
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.
A Russian LGBT rights activist shows a sign reading "Love is stronger than homophobia" from inside a Russian riot police van during an unauthorized LGBT rights rally in Moscow on May 25, 2013. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
Courts in Volgograd and Nizhny Novgorod oblasts issued the first convictions under a new law targeting LGBT activists in Russia, according to the courts' press services.
Russia's Supreme Court declared "the international LGBT social movement" to be "an extremist organization" on Nov. 30, 2023 and banned all its activities.
A court in Volgograd Oblast on Feb. 1 found a defendant known as Artyom P. guilty of “displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation” and ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles ($11.05). The man had posted a picture of an LBGT flag online.
The court claimed that Artyom P. confessed, repented, and said he posted the flag "out of stupidity."
A court in Nizhny Novgorod on Jan. 29 sentenced a woman to serve five days in administrative detention for the crime of wearing frog-shaped earrings that displayed the image of a rainbow.
The LGBT rights group Aegis said a man demanded the woman remove her earrings, filmed the encounter, and posted the video online.
It is not clear how Russian authorities define the "international LGBT movement" and its symbols. The six-color rainbow flag has been a global symbol of LGBT rights since the 1970s, but Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinstein told the state news outlet Kommersant that the law did not ban rainbows outright.
Khinstein claimed that a "classic" seven-color rainbow was permissible under the new law.
The organization Aegis pointed out in a Telegram post that the convicted woman's earrings appear to depict a seven-striped rainbow and do not appear to represent a flag.
The convictions point to a potential broad interpretation of the law that encompasses even indirect connections to LGBT rights and symbols.
Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported on Jan. 19 that a resident of Saratov Oblast is being investigated for posting photographs including the rainbow flag on Instagram. The trial is set to resume next week.
Mediazona also reported that Moscow police targeted gay clubs in the city with raids shortly after the new law passed.
The Kremlin's crackdown on gay rights intensified following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with new legislation in December 2022 banning the public expression of LGBT identity in Russia.
Abbey Fenbert is a senior news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.
Elsa Court
