"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.
Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin. (Russian Defense Ministry)
Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, a deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff and head of the Main Directorate of Communications, was detained for allegedly receiving a large bribe, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported on May 23, citing a court statement.
The news comes only as the latest case to rock Russia's military and security apparatus.
The Interfax news agency reported, citing an undisclosed source, that Shamarin has been taken in for questioning.
The state-controlled outlet Kommersant also reported on Shamarin's detention, saying that the general had been put under arrest for a period of two months. A law enforcement source reportedly told the outlet that Shamarin's home was searched in connection to the case.
In April, now-former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of bribery, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was reassigned as the head of the country's security council on May 13, replacing Nikolai Patrushev.
Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, the head of the personnel department of the Russian Defense Ministry, was detained on May 13.
Earlier this week, Major General Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army, was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Oleg Sukhov
