Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-08-2025

Zelensky said he is ready for a total 30-day ceasefire with Russia, including long-range attacks and frontline assaults.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US counterpart Donald Trump held a telephone call on Thursday, in which the Ukrainian president said he was ready for a total ceasefire.

Zelensky said, in a Telegram post following the call, that he proposed a total ceasefire for 30 days:

At a WWII memorial, Macron warned that war has returned to Europe, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urging stronger defense as peace proves illusory.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the specter of war had returned in Europe as he attended ceremonies on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

With the Russian war in Ukraine having stretched into its fourth year, Macron noted that the idea of perpetual peace in Europe following World War II had been illusory.

Turkish media reported Thursday on a phone call between Erdoğan and Trump earlier in the week, where they discussed resolving the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with US President Donald Trump this week and discussed, among other things, cooperation on bringing an end to the War in Ukraine, Turkish media reported Thursday, May 8. 

Hurriyet news reported that Trump asked Erdoğan to help mediate between Russia and Ukraine in a phone call held on Tuesday.

Zelensky congratulated Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, urging continued Vatican support for peace in Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Pope Leo XIV on his election and said he hoped the Vatican would continue its moral and spiritual support.

“At this decisive moment for our country, we hope for the continued moral and spiritual support of the Vatican in Ukraine’s efforts to restore justice and achieve a lasting peace,” Zelensky said in a post on X.

Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope Thursday, becoming the first American pontiff. He took the name Leo XIV and pledged peace before cheering crowds in Rome.

Robert Francis Prevost became the first pope from the United States on Thursday, picking the papal name Leo XIV after cardinals from around the world elected him leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Tens of thousands of people packed in St Peter’s Square cheered as Prevost appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, waving with both hands, smiling and bowing.

The discussion surrounding the creation of a special tribunal has been ongoing for some time, but the exact date of its creation, as well as its legality, remains unclear.

The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Ukraine’s allies will soon set up a special tribunal to try the Russian leadership for their crimes in Ukraine.

According to AFP, Kallas said the formal endorsement would come on Friday, when several EU foreign ministers would visit Lviv in western Ukraine.

Some of WWII’s deadliest battles were fought in Ukraine. As a key front, the country suffered immense loss. Here are key facts and figures showing the scale of its wartime experience.

Russia’s military is faltering amid eastern losses, Crimea strikes, and fears of May 9 attacks, military expert Chuck Pfarrer says, marking a turning point in the war and Kremlin instability.

Ukraine has already received $6.8 billion out of a total of $20.4 billion from the EU under the ERA initiative.

Ukraine received the next €1 billion ($1.1 billion) tranche from the European Union under the G7-backed Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative, the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance reported on May 8.

According to the Ministry, Ukraine will use the disbursement for budgetary needs.

Russia and China criticized Trump’s “Iron Dome for America” as destabilizing, warning it could militarize space and revive Cold War-era weaponization plans.

Russia and China on Thursday slammed US President Donald Trump’s plan for an Iron Dome-like missile defense system as “deeply destabilizing,” saying it risked turning space into a “battlefield.”

Trump ordered an “Iron Dome for America” shortly after his inauguration in January, a program to counter ballistic and hypersonic missile threats.

Ukraine’s National Guard liberated 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest near Liptsy in a months-long operation, pushing Russian forces further from Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian National Guard and other military units have reportedly liberated 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest near the settlement of Liptsy in the northern Kharkiv region, pushing Russian troops further from the regional capital.

“By the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II, the 13th National Guard Brigade ‘Khartia’ liberated a forest north of Liptsy, which the Russians – modern heirs of Nazism – called ‘Berlin,’” the brigade said on Telegram.

Days after Magura USVs launched air-to-air missiles to bring down two Russian fighters over the Black Sea the concept was a hot topic for discussion at Tuesday’s US SOF conference.

The military issues website Breaking Defense reported on the Special Operations Forces (SOF) conference that was held in Tampa, Florida in the week May 5-8, with one subject  discussed among attendees being the innovative use of unmanned surface vessels (USV – sea drones) by Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU).

The reports that a Ukrainian Magura-7 USVs firing the US-made AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile had brought down two Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft over the Black Sea overnight on May 2/3 were in the forefront of several SOF minds.

Russia has cast its three-year offensive against Ukraine as a fight against “neo-Nazis” and has channelled its own wartime legacy to try to justify the war.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday criticised Russia’s “historical lies” over the Ukraine war, as he marked the Nazi defeat that ended World War II in Europe 80 years ago.

Steinmeier’s speech to parliament expressed gratitude to the Allied soldiers and resistance movements who, “with all their strength and at great sacrifice”, defeated Nazi Germany.

The Verkhovna Rada ratified the US-Ukraine minerals agreement, paving the way for an Investment Fund to boost critical minerals projects.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has ratified the intergovernmental minerals agreement recently signed by Ukraine and the US.

A total of 338 lawmakers voted in favor, according to a live broadcast from the parliament.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, citing details from Ukraine’s military command, said that from midnight to noon on May 8, Russia violated Putin’s so-called V-Day ceasefire 734 times.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha slammed Russia’s ceasefire announcement as a “farce,” saying Russian forces continue to attack across the entire frontline.

Russian state media reported early Thursday that a unilateral ceasefire announced by Russian leader Vladimir Putin began at midnight on May 8. The Kremlin said the pause in fighting would last through midnight on May 11, which includes Russia’s May 9 Victory Day.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has hailed the Chinese contingent for being the largest of all foreign participants.

A Chinese contingent – the largest of all foreign participants – is to join Russian troops in Moscow for the May 9 Victory Day parade, according to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Thursday, May 8, and is one of the more than 20 foreign leaders to attend Friday’s parade that marks 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII.

On May 6, a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia saw 205 Ukrainian defenders return home. Kyiv Post was on the ground to witness the emotional reunions of families after years of waiting.

Peace through strength must never become a mere slogan. Recent actions by the Trump administration show what is necessary to allow Ukraine – and the US – to win.

Last week, the United States and Ukraine entered a new era of cooperation. With the announcement of a long-term economic partnership between the two nations, led by Presidents Trump and Zelensky, the first pillar of the Three Pillar Peace Through Strength Victory Plan, authored by Senator Lindsey Graham, Pastor Mark Burns, and the Peace Through Strength Institute, is no longer theoretical. It is operational.

The historic face-to-face meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky got the ball rolling. That direct conversation changed the trajectory of the war. Not by offering more aid, but by forging a strategic alliance rooted in long-term mutual interests. It sent a message to both Kyiv and the Kremlin. The free world has a plan, and America is leading it.

Atesh partisans sabotaged a transformer in Russia’s Moscow region, disrupting communications at several military sites.

A representative of the Ukrainian partisan movement Atesh carried out a sabotage operation in Russia’s Moscow region, disrupting communications at multiple Russian armed forces’ facilities.

The movement shared photos and video of the operation on Telegram.

Dr. Yurii Shapoval, a leading expert on World War II and Soviet history, speaks to Kyiv Post about Ukraine and its people during the Second World War.

The realities of World War II – the deadliest war in human history – have often remained in the shadow cast by Soviet propaganda for international audiences. During the Soviet era, when Ukraine was part of the USSR, the authorities avoided highlighting the losses of each individual republic.

The achievements of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, Kazakhs, and others were subsumed as part of a general “Soviet” victory. After the USSR collapsed, Russia made the memory of World War II a central theme of its own historical myth, claiming the achievements and participation of all the former Soviet peoples as its own.

More than 20 foreign leaders are in Russia to attend a vast military parade on Friday marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

China’s Xi Jinping was in Moscow on Thursday for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce.

More than 20 foreign leaders are in Russia to attend a vast military parade on Friday marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president also blasted Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations, where Vladimir Putin is expected to host more than 20 world leaders and oversee a large military parade.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on international allies to unite in resisting Russia’s war on Ukraine on Thursday, as Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

“Just as it did 80 years ago, when it finally became clear to everyone: evil cannot be appeased. It must be fought. Together. Resolutely. With force. With pressure,” Zelensky said  on Thursday, May 8.

The Trump administration will no longer extend Yale Lab funding. Without another donor, the program “goes out of business shortly,” its director tells Kyiv Post. EU has a chance to save it today.

Funding for a US-based program that tracks thousands of Ukrainian children abducted and taken to Russia is about to run out in the coming days and President Donald Trump’s administration appears to have made up its mind: “No further funding is expected, that’s a final decision,” an administration official told Kyiv Post on Wednesday, May 7.

Launched in 2022 with $6 million in federal funding, the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, or HRL, is part of a broader international effort to document potential war crimes and to ensure the preservation of critical evidence. It investigates deportations of Ukrainian children using open-source intelligence and satellite photos.

Despite Putin’s truce announcement, Russian forces launched guided bombs on Sumy within hours, breaking yet another “ceasefire.”

Ukraine’s air force reported air strikes on its northern region of Sumy on Thursday morning as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a three-day truce with Ukraine was supposed to take effect.

Still, not a single Russian combat drone had been detected over the country overnight – marking a rare pause in the Kremlin’s near-daily drone assaults.

Kyiv Post joins others around the world in remembering the victims and reflecting on the lessons of history.

Kyiv Post honors those who gave their lives in World War II. May 8 serves as a reminder of the cost of war and the value of peace. We join others around the world in remembering the victims and reflecting on the lessons of history.

The country’s democratic opposition says the government is still keeping 1,200 innocent activists behind bars.

Belarus has pardoned 42 people convicted of “extremist offences,” but the country’s democratic opposition says the government is still keeping 1,200 innocent activists behind bars.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s announcement, reported by the state-run news agency BELTA, was published on Wednesday in the run-up to official Victory Day celebrations on Friday.

Berlin delivers 66 MRAPs, missiles, drones, howitzers, ammo, and demining gear to Ukraine in latest aid package worth nearly €8 billion.

Germany has transferred another package of military aid to Ukraine, which includes ammunition and missiles, small arms, demining equipment, and more.

The list of transferred equipment and materiel was updated on the day the new German government was formed, Ukrinform reports.

Today we celebrate the defeat over Nazi Germany. After 80 years, however, a new authoritarian threat is undermining European peace: Russia. In our defense we must first address Moscow’s lies.

Dear Friends,

These days, we all commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victorious European campaign in World War II. Russia seeks to privatize this victory and to be glorified as the vanquisher of German Nazism.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• US officials acknowledged Russia’s continued intransigence toward any ceasefire agreement in Ukraine while reiterating that Ukraine remains committed to US President Donald Trump’s proposed comprehensive 30-day ceasefire.
• Ukrainian forces likely recently advanced across the international border into southern Tetkino, Kursk Oblast, amid continued limited Ukrainian attacks in the area.
• Ukrainian forces conducted long-range drone strikes against defense industrial facilities and airbases in Russia overnight on May 6 and 7.
• Russian authorities will likely test their ability to completely disconnect large areas of Russia from the internet on May 9 under the guise of protecting Russian Victory Day celebrations.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed the Russia-Venezuela Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement on May 7.
• Ukrainian and European officials continue to report on Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in violation of international law and Russia’s use of chemical weapons in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which Russia is a signatory.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to reject Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov’s recent request to resign from his post.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Novopavlivka, and Velyka Novosilka.

In his first interview since leaving office, the former US President says Trump is “appeasing” Putin by suggesting Ukraine should give up occupied territory.

In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Wednesday, former US President Joe Biden recalled the lessons of World War II, with the 80th anniversary of the end of European hostilities being celebrated this week in European capitals and in Moscow, saying that his successor in the Oval Office represents “modern-day appeasement.”

Biden said in the interview that Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine is part of Russia and that “anybody that thinks he’s going to stop” at Ukraine is “just foolish.”

Faced with increasing attacks and question marks about supply of Western air defenses, the president said the initiative is among the “foundations of the future security architecture in Europe.”

Military and industrial leaders in Kyiv are working with international partners to produce air-defense systems domestically in Ukraine, the same sorts of missile systems for which the country now relies on stockpiles in the US and Europe, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

In his nightly address, the Ukrainian president noted that not only are conversations in motion with Western countries to provide more such air defenses – traditionally the US-made Patriot batteries and their European peer, the Franco-Italian SAMP/T – but also similar missile systems made in Ukraine in the future.

“Relations with Russia cannot be business as usual,” EC spokesman Markus Lammert said about Vucic’s visit to Putin’s WWII victory parade. Lammert declined to speculate on any consequences for Serbia.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic arrived in Moscow Wednesday for celebrations marking 80 years since the victory over Nazi Germany, risking European Union anger as he tries to balance ties between Russia and Europe.

“After many years, back in Moscow,” Vucic wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of himself at Moscow airport. The Kremlin said Vucic will have a meeting with its autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, after Friday’s parade.