President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 6 that Ukraine is preparing legislation to legalize private military companies, as Kyiv looks to create new postwar opportunities for veterans and expand its role in the global security sector.

"We just don't see the point (to follow it) for the parade," a senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent.

The decision by Mykola Hladyshchenko, head of state-owned Sense Bank's supervisory board, follows the publication of alleged transcripts of audio tapes implicating the bank in the corruption scandal last week.

Kyiv rejected Russia's Victory Day truce after Moscow violated Ukraine's ceasefire 1,820 times and Russian attacks killed 26 civilians nationwide.

The steady decline in Vladimir Putin's ratings is sending a message — just not the kind polls in democracies are designed to capture. As the Kremlin's grip over the internet tightens, pro-war military bloggers, figures from state-approved "opposition" parties, and even influencers have railed against the online crackdown. State-linked pollsters, meanwhile, report that the Russian president's approval rating has steadily declined, reaching its lowest point during the all-out invasion of Ukraine

Ukrzaliznytsia has recorded 983 attacks on railway infrastructure since the start of 2026, with strikes also hitting passenger trains and causing civilian casualties.

The report describes the trend as a "deeply troubling trajectory in the war," finding a sustained pattern in which responders are repeatedly targeted while carrying out rescue operations, including after arriving at strike sites.

"Half of the FSB building is completely gone," the Crimean Wind Telegram channel wrote.

"This decision by the authorities is based on security considerations," Crimea's head of Russian occupation authorities, Sergey Aksyonov, said.

When it comes to Ukraine's largest corruption scandal, President Volodymyr Zelensky prefers to remain tight-lipped. Recent leaks, published by journalists and lawmakers over the past week, indicate that the largest corruption scandal affecting Zelensky's inner circle has expanded beyond the energy sector. It now reportedly implicates the banking and defense industries, with attention also centered on the construction of four luxury homes near Kyiv. A man named "Vova," a short form of Volodymyr

The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with U.S. Congressman Mike Levin about shifting American support for Ukraine, internal political divisions in Washington, and the future of transatlantic alliances.

"I am grateful to Hungary for its constructive approach," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

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Aside from Ukraine itself, no country has so far ratified the International Claims Commission, the body that will handle compensation requests from the war's victims.

Police on the premises tackled members from the feminist protest groups who were able to make it inside the building, according to a joint press release.

Editor's note: The following is the May 6, 2026 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. You wouldn't know it from Western media outlets — but the corruption scandal that prompted Ukraine's first wartime protests last summer continues to unfold. Last week, Ukraine’s leading outlet Ukrainska Pravda (meaning "Ukrainian Truth") published two videos presenting leaked transcripts of w

Moscow has also accused Kyiv of breaching its own ceasefire, with Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik saying that Ukraine had launched attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia's Bryansk Oblast, Kremlin-controlled news agency TASS cited him as saying on May 6.

Russian forces attacked Ukraine with two ballistic missiles, a Kh-31 air-to-surface missile, and 108 drones of various types, including Shahed-type drones, overnight, the Air Force said on May 6.

The figure includes 1,050 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russia launched attacks on Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast and Zaporizhzhia in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 5, killing at least 17 people and injuring 56 others, local authorities said.

"This was an absolutely cynical terrorist strike, with no military justification whatsoever. Not a single day passes without such Russian attacks on our cities and villages," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russia cut off mobile internet services in Moscow and St. Petersburg on May 5, days ahead of the country's annual Victory Day parade, citing security concerns.

The U.S. State Department approved a potential sale of extended-range Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) systems and related equipment to Ukraine, the agency announced May 5.

Newly released recordings linked to Ukraine's biggest corruption scandal have put Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, back into the spotlight, prompting renewed scrutiny over his role in U.S.-brokered peace negotiations. The developments come at a particularly sensitive moment. Umerov, a former defense minister, has not been formally charged but is allegedly under investigation. He is reportedly mentioned in the most recent set of leaked recordings, tying him

Key developments on May 5: * Russia's Kirishi oil refinery stops production after drone strikes * European Commission opens call for proposals to join EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance * Russian fiber-optic FPV drones reach Kramatorsk, Ukraine's Donbas stronghold * EU votes in support of Nuremberg-style tribunal for Russia. Ukrainian Flamingo missiles struck a Russian military production facility in Cheboksary overnight on May 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as part of a large-scale missile

Ukrainian forces launched a missile and drone attack on multiple Russian regions overnight on May 5, reportedly striking a critical Russian military-industrial site in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

Partway through the procession, Ukrainian activists from the Free Defenders movement pushed to the front and unfurled a large banner reading "Mortal Regiment."

"Recent repeated violations of the airspace of EU member states have shown the urgency of creating a flexible, agile and state of the art European capacity to counter unmanned aerial vehicles," the European Commission said.

The Special Tribunal plays an important role because no other court has a legal mandate to prosecute the international crime of starting a war of aggression.

The motion was initiated by the Social Democrats (PSD), who left the governing coalition last month, and by the far-right, Ukraine-skeptic Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).

Russian fiber-optic FPV drones have reached Kramatorsk, posing a new threat to one of Ukraine’s key strongholds in Donetsk Oblast.

"Ukraine is a country that has played the role of a reliable food security guarantor for Egypt for many years — and we don't understand why Egyptian partners pay us back by continuing to accept stolen Ukrainian grain," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote.