"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.
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.
The aftermath of Russian attacks against Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, overnight on Dec. 19, 2024. (Governor Serhii Lysak/Telegram)
Russian attacks across Ukrainian regions killed at least one civilian and injured at least eight other people over the past day, regional authorities reported on Dec. 19.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 45 of the 85 Shahed-type drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Forty drones were reportedly lost across Ukraine thanks to electronic warfare countermeasures.
Russia also attacked Ukraine with a Kh-59/69 cruise missile and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, according to the statement.
In Chernihiv Oblast, Russian shelling of the town of Semenivka injured a police officer and a 16-year-old boy, Governor Viacheslav Chaus reported. A house was also damaged.
Four people were injured during a Russian attack against the village of Tsyrkuny in Kharkiv Oblast on the evening of Dec. 18, according to the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov.
The victims included three women aged 57, 62, and 75, and a 64-year-old man. Nine houses were damaged.
In Kherson Oblast, one person was killed and two injured in Russian strikes, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. Three high-rise buildings, 11 houses, and an outbuilding were damaged.
Russia launched a missile attack against the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast overnight on Dec. 19, damaging a hospital, a school, two nine-story buildings, and a shop, Governor Serhii Lysak said. No casualties were reported.
Russian forces also carried out a missile strike against the town of Romny in Sumy Oblast, damaging nine residential buildings but inflicting no casualties, authorities reported.
The Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Poltava, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts also came under attack, but no casualties were reported.
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.
Abbey Fenbert
