"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, on March 11-12, 2025. (Governor Serhii Lysak/Telegram)
Editor's note: The story was updated with the latest casualty figures from Kryvyi Rih.
Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 14 civilians and injured at least 41 over the past day, regional authorities reported on March 12. The casualties included children and Syrian crew members of a merchant vessel in Odesa.
Russia launched three Iskander-M ballistic missiles against Odesa and Kryvyi Rih, as well as 133 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 98 drones over 15 regions, while 20 decoy drones disappeared from radars without causing damage, according to the statement.
At least one person was killed and 16 injured during Russian attacks against Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.
A series of explosions were reported in Kryvyi Rih after Russia launched a missile strike against the city early on March 12. A 47-year-old woman was killed, while 16 other people were injured, Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast regional council said. Eight of them have been hospitalized, and three are in serious condition.
High-rise buildings, administrative buildings, buses, garages, cars, shops, and a school were damaged.
Russia also attacked the regional center, Dnipro, overnight, injuring a 42-year-old man, damaging 10 houses, a kindergarten, a school, and other buildings, and starting fires across the city.
Russian attacks against Donetsk Oblast killed seven people and injured 13 over the past day, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
This included three people killed and three injured in Siversk, two killed and two injured in Rivne, one killed and two injured in Rodynske, one killed and another injured in Pokrovsk, four injured in Kostiantynivka, and one injured in Molocharka, according to the statement.
In Kherson Oblast, two people were killed and seven injured, including two children, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional governor. Three high-rise buildings, eight houses, a gas pipeline, utility buildings, and cars were damaged.
Overnight, Russia struck a port in Odesa with a ballistic missile, damaging infrastructure and the Barbados-flagged merchant vessel MJ Pina, which was loading wheat for export to Algeria, Governor Oleh Kiper said.
The Barbados-flagged merchant vessel MJ Pina damaged in a Russian missile attack late on March 11, 2025. (Governor Oleh Kiper/Telegram)
Four Syrian crew members, aged between 18 and 24, were killed, while another Syrian crew member and one Ukrainian port employee were injured. Another ship and grain warehouses were also damaged.
One civilian was injured during attacks against the Myropillia community in Sumy Oblast on March 11, the regional military administration 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.
Martin Fornusek
