George Simion, leader of Romania's far-right AUR party, who won the first round of the presidential election with nearly 40% of the vote, reiterated that if elected, he would oppose any further assistance to Ukraine and shift Romania’s focus inward.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed their countries' relationship on May 8, vowing to increase cooperation in all areas, including military ties.
"There is Turkey, which maintains channels of communication. And then, above all, there is the People's Republic of China, which, more than anyone else, has the means to make (Russian President Vladimir) Putin come to the negotiating table and soften his demands," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on May 8.
The United States will be ready to "walk away" from the negotiating table if it does not see Russia making progress in negotiation to end the war, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on May 8.
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.
Ukrainian schoolchildren in Kyiv celebrate the start of the new academic year on Sept. 4, 2023. (Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Ukrainian language has taken a decisive lead over Russian on Ukrainian social media networks, a new study by the Content Analysis Center reveals.
The study compared posts from October 2023 to posts in 2022 and 2020.
“Western social networks such as Facebook, X, and Instagram highlight the growth of the Ukrainian language. Yes, more than 90% of posts on Instagram are now written in the official language," the study said.
According to the study's findings, 75-80% of posts on Facebook are written in Ukrainian, up from 65-70% last year. Earlier analysis from October 2020 found that only 15-25% of posts were in Ukrainian.
While Ukrainian was made the country's only official language following independence in 1991, Russian remained widely spoken throughout the eastern and southern regions.
"Obviously, the tendency to increase the share of the Ukrainian language will continue, although perhaps at a more modest pace," the study said.
"The key news is that YouTube has shown radical progress over the last year... The share of the Ukrainian language in TikTok also doubled: if earlier the ratio was 1 to 2 in favor of the Russian language, now it is 2 to 1 in favor of the national language."
The study was conducted from September 20 to October 20 and included parts of occupied Ukraine.
Lance Luo (Li P. Luo) is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. Previously, he worked at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Hromadske Television in Kyiv. He also spent three years in finance and strategy consulting. Mr. Luo graduated from the University of Southern California and serves as an arbitrator at FINRA.
