The visit marks Merz’s first trip to Ukraine, and the first time all four leaders have travelled there together.
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.
"As in the past, it is now for Russia to show its willingness to achieve peace," the EU's statement reads.
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."
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"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.
Zelensky: Security council bans state officials from leaving Ukraine, except for business trips.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has banned state officials from leaving the country during martial law, except for official business trips, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Jan. 23.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country during the war, except for cases when they obtain special permits from the government. Some Ukrainian state officials and businesspeople have routinely abused this system and bypassed the restrictions.
The ban on state officials' travel abroad follows a scandal around Oleksiy Symoneko, a deputy prosecutor general.
Symonenko went for a vacation to Spain in December-January using a Mercedes car owned by Lviv-based businessman Grigory Kozlovsky, according to an investigation by online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda.
Symonenko has a shady background and faces the accusations of blocking corruption cases. He has helped destroy a bribery case against Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff Oleh Tatarov, signing an order to transfer it from the independent National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to the presidentially controlled Security Service of Ukraine.

Zelensky also said that the National Security and Defense Council had imposed sanctions against 21 representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Among others, these include Mikhail Gundyayev, the nephew of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Mikhail Gundiayev is also the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at the World Council of Churches.
Zelensky said that these Russian citizens are supporting terror and genocide while cloaking themselves with faith.
He also said that there would be a major government reshuffle. He did not name anyone, however.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a deputy chief of staff for Zelensky, has submitted his resignation, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Jan. 23, citing anonymous sources in the government.
He is expected to be replaced with Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of Kyiv Oblast, according to the sources.
The governors of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts are expected to resign too, the sources said.
Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram that some regional governors would be fired and there might be at least three replacements at the Cabinet of Ministers.
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