"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.
A view of the Russian Central Bank headquarters in downtown Moscow on May 26, 2022. (Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP via Getty Images)
Euroclear, the Belgian financial services giant, plans to confiscate and redistribute 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from frozen Russian funds to compensate Western investors whose assets were seized by Moscow, Reuters reported on May 2, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The payout, drawn from a pool of 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion) in cash frozen under EU sanctions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, comes in response to Russia's confiscation of billions in Western-held assets over the past year, the sources said.
The move marks an escalation in Europe's financial pressure on Moscow. This is the first instance of direct redistribution of Russian frozen funds to offset Western investor losses.
Until now, the West has relied on reallocating interest income generated from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. In October 2024, the Group of Seven (G7) approved nearly $50 billion in loans for Ukraine, to be repaid with proceeds from these frozen assets.
Euroclear reportedly obtained approval from Belgian authorities in March to proceed with the payments. The company informed clients about the disbursements in an April 1 document reviewed by Reuters.
Crucially, the redistribution will not impact the more than 200 billion euros ($226.9 billion) in Russian central bank reserves frozen within the European Union, two sources told Reuters.
Still, the move will reduce the bloc's stockpile of frozen Russian cash, stocks, and bonds — assets widely viewed as leverage over Moscow and a potential funding source for Ukraine's reconstruction.
The Kremlin has previously warned of retaliation if Western countries confiscate Russian assets for use in Ukraine. In early 2024, Russia amended its legislation to facilitate counter-seizures of Western-owned property.
A draft law approved in February outlines the procedure for Moscow to seize foreign assets in response to Western sanctions.
Ukraine has urged its allies, particularly the U.S. Treasury, to formalize mechanisms for using frozen Russian funds to finance Ukrainian defense and reconstruction.
Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.
Yana Prots
