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 Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Illustrative image: This photograph taken on September 10, 2023, shows a general view of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant, in Varash, Rivne Oblast, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
Four nuclear power units at two different power plans were disconnected during Russia's mass aerial strike on Ukraine on Aug. 26, the Presidential Office head, Andriy Yermak, said on Aug. 29.
"We are talking about the power units 1, 3, and 4 of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the power unit 3 at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant (in Mykolaiv Oblast)," Yermak said on Telegram, publishing a letter by Ukraine's diplomatic mission in Vienna to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Russia launched its largest aerial strike against Ukraine to date on Aug. 26, firing over 230 missiles and drones and yet again targeting energy infrastructure. The most recent Russian attack necessitated energy restrictions and rolling blackouts after a relatively stable energy situation in much of August.
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that nuclear generation currently covers up to 60% of the country's electricity consumption.
Apart from the Rivne and South Ukraine plants, the country also operates the Kmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe, has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of using the plant for nuclear blackmail and endangering its safety.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
