"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 priest (R) blesses believers during an Orthodox Palm Sunday service at the Refectory Church of Saint Anthony and Theodosius in the medieval cave monastery of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv on April 9, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Moscow Patriarchate on April 16 held Easter services in the same iconic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, but in different churches and at different times.
At the entrance to the territory of the Lavra, the police checked visitors' documents and belongings as tensions between the Ukrainian and Russian-backed churches run high.
It was the first time when an Easter service was held in Ukrainian by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the Lavra, Ukraine's most important Orthodox monastery.
Previously the Lavra was completely controlled by the Russian-affiliated church, which is officially known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Russian-controlled church's lease on a part of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra - called the Upper Lavra - expired on Jan. 1, and the Ukrainian government decided not to extend the lease. Later the Ukrainian authorities said they would also terminate the Russian-affiliated church's indefinite lease on the remaining part, the Lower Lavra, starting from March 29, accusing it of violating the terms of the lease.
The Russian-backed church argued that the termination of the lease was illegal and refused to leave.
On April 1, the court placed Pavlo Lebid, the abbot of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and a Moscow Patriarchate cleric, under house arrest. He was charged with defending Russia's aggression against Ukraine and inciting religious hatred.
Since January, the Ukrainian government has allowed the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is independent from Russia, to hold several church services in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. There is speculation that the authorities may permanently transfer the Lavra to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
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The Kyiv Independent news desk
