"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.
The footage showing Ukrainian forces' attack near the border with Russia shared on Sept. 23, 2024. (Ukraine's 95th Separate Polesian Air Assault Brigade)
Ukraine's 95th Separate Polissia Air Assault Brigade said on Sept. 23 it had broken through another section of the Russian border.
The brigade published a video purporting to show the breakthrough of engineering barriers, the crossing of airborne assault units into Russia, and the first battles near the border.
The exact location and time of the attack were not disclosed, but the brigade said it was "the second successful operation to break through the Russian border since the beginning of the operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast."
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the reports.
Ukraine launched its cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, seizing around 100 settlements and over 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles).
Over past weeks, Russia launched a counterattack in Kursk Oblast, which was halted on Sept. 18, according to the Ukrainian military.
One of the objectives of Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast was to force Russia to redeploy its forces from the front in Ukraine, primarily from the Pokrovsk sector. Moscow has moved about 40,000 Russian soldiers to Kursk Oblast as of Sept. 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Kateryna Denisova
