U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged in private that Russia is difficult to negotiate with because they "want the whole thing," referring to Ukraine, the WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with the comments.
A notice about the airspace closure was published on the U.S. Defense Department's NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) website on May 10, as cited by Ukrainian defense news outlet Militarnyi.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, claiming in an interview with ABC News on May 10 that it would be "an advantage" for Ukraine.
"Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said. "I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms."
"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."
Employees unload a plane carrying new U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine, at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport on Jan. 25, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Nearly 300 new FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank system launchers and missiles have been delivered to Kyiv on Jan. 25 as part of the United States' skyrocketing military support to Ukraine amid the looming threat of Russia's all-out invasion.
Besides, the new delivery included SMAW-D anti-fortification weapons, also provided by the U.S. to Ukraine for free.
The third aircraft delivery over the last few days arrived in the Boryspil International Airport containing nearly 80 tons of cargo, according to Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
As of Jan. 25 night, none of the official sources specified the exact quantity of Javelin launch pads and missiles, or SMAW-D bunker-busters delivered in the latest round. The previous two shipments were delivered on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, respectively, also containing the same weapon types.
Pallets of ammunition, weapons and other equipment that is part of new U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine get unloaded at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
According to Defense Minister Reznikov, the fourth delivery of U.S. aid is expected to arrive in Kyiv in the nearest time.
The additional defense aid package worth $200 million was approved in late December as an emergency action to support Ukraine's defense against Russia's potential invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken publicly announced it on Jan. 19 during his visit to Kyiv.
Apart from that, in the fiscal year 2022, the U.S. will provide $300 million in defense aid to Ukraine, including $75 million allocated on lethal weapons. In total, the U.S., since the outbreak of Russia's war in Donbas in 2014, has allocated nearly $2.7 billion on military assistance to Kyiv, including record-breaking $650 million in 2021 alone.
Employees unload a plane carrying new U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine, at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport on Jan. 25, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Moreover, amid the escalating Russian crisis, the U.S. government recently gave a go-ahead to the Baltic nations to provide Ukraine with American-made weapons from their own arsenals.
According to a joint statement of the three nations, aired on Jan. 21, Estonia pledged to send "dozens" of Javelin systems, while Latvia and Estonia vowed to transfer scores of FIM-92 Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft weapons, which have been repeatedly deemed most essential for repelling a Russian offensive by the Ukrainian defense expert community.
The drastic boom in foreign military support of Ukraine against Russian aggression followed the British decision to send nearly 2,000 advanced anti-tank grenade launchers NLAW to Kyiv, in a sharp expansion of its defense assistance of Kyiv.
In the following, some European nations, including the Netherlands, ceased opposing arms transfers to Ukraine. The Czech Republic on Jan. 21 said it fully supported Ukraine against Russia's aggressive action and said it contemplated providing Ukraine with 152-millimeter artillery rounds.
Nonetheless, Germany, which has demonstrated its fierce opposition to bolstering Ukraine's defenses in a looming big war, on Jan. 21 vetoed an Estonian initiative to transfer 122-millimeter D-30 field guns to Ukraine.
Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023. He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. Besides, he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
