"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.
A British union flag outside luxury residential properties in the Chelsea and Kensington borough in London, U.K., on Feb. 20, 2025. (Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The U.K. will impose a travel ban on individuals who have significant ties to the Russian state or have built their wealth through Kremlin connections. The U.K.’s new sanctions come amid broader Western efforts to tighten pressure on Moscow as the war enters its fourth year.
The sanctions, set to be announced on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, will also target those with access to the highest levels of the Russian government, including senior politicians, officials, and business figures, the U.K. government said.
The measures will expand existing British sanctions against Russian elites accused of supporting President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. British Security Minister Dan Jarvis made it clear that those benefiting from the Kremlin’s actions will no longer be welcome. "You are not welcome in the U.K.," he said.
"The measures announced today slam the door shut to the oligarchs who have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people whilst bankrolling this illegal and unjustifiable war."
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on the war in Ukraine. His visit follows that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Monday. Both leaders aim to persuade the U.S. president to avoid rushing into a ceasefire deal with Putin that could undermine Ukraine’s security.
European leaders have grown increasingly concerned over Trump’s recent decision to engage in direct negotiations with Moscow without Kyiv’s involvement. Starmer and Macron are expected to push for continued Western military support for Ukraine and stress the importance of European involvement in any peace process. They will also discuss potential military guarantees for Ukraine’s future security.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
Dominic Culverwell
